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Blog Summary of the birth of Christ and the Celestial Prelude.

Birth of Jesus Christ — **Biblical Astronomy of the Birth of Christ**

Merry Christmas 2022 Everyone as we recognize the true Reason for the Season!

During the Holiday Season we always do our best to acknowledge the truth behind the idea of the “Star of Bethlehem,” and its biblical and astronomical significance. This subject represents the roots of the Try-God website and blog research, found in the articles posted on Try-god.com going back 20 years to the early 2000’s. This month we are first posting a recent article linked to the 2020 union of Jupiter and Saturn as it relates to the history of the star of Bethlehem. Secondly, we will repost a number of our studies from the last two decades, regarding the “Birth of Christ” topic, and what I’ve referred to as “The Celestial Prelude” pertaining to the celestial signs preceding Christ’s Birth, that set the foundation for the Magi to recognize these heavenly signs, as they came to pass.

Below is an article that appeared in Astronomy Magazine on Friday, December 18, 2020, that generally aligns with my approach to the Star of Bethlehem. This will serve as an introduction to some of my blog post research that follows, on various aspects of this subject. In fact, the last of my links listed below deals with the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction in Dec. 2020, which is the subject of this article from
Astronomy Magazine, below.

The Star of Bethlehem: Can science explain what it really was?

For centuries, scholars have suggested the Star of Bethlehem may have actually been a “great conjunction” of bright planets. 1

By Eric Betz | Published: Friday, December 18, 2020

RELATED TOPICS: STARS | JUPITER | SATURN

“Could the Star of Bethlehem have been caused by a “great conjunction” of the bright planets Venus and Jupiter? On June 17, 2 B.C., the planets had come so close they would have almost appeared as one object, similar to the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in 2020. Ron Miller/Astronomy magazine

On December 21, 2020 Jupiter and Saturn will come together in a “Great Conjunction” unlike any seen in nearly 800 years. The two planets will appear so close together in Earth’s night sky on winter solstice that they’ll almost look like a single object.

That’s prompted some to dub the sight a “Christmas Star,” and others to wonder about a similar sounding celestial event that coincided with the biblical first Christmas: the Star of Bethlehem. But did such a cosmic sight ever really exist? And if so, what does astronomical science tell us about what could have caused it?

Interestingly, there’s some evidence that a pair of planetary conjunctions — not unlike the coming Great Conjunction — happened around the historically accepted time frame for the birth of Christ. That could potentially explain the Star of Bethlehem. But, of course, not everyone agrees with the idea.

The three wise men, or Magi, arrived after Jesus’ birth carrying gold, frankincense and myrrh, as captured in this Byzantine mosaic created in 565 A.D. Wikimedia Commons

The Star of Bethlehem

The story of the Star of Bethlehem appears only in the Book of Matthew. The gospel tells us that a bright star appeared in the eastern sky when Jesus was born, famously seen by a group of wise men. These biblical “Magi,” sometimes called kings, now adorn nativity scenes around the world.

The Bible describes how these wise men saw the new star as a sign of the birth of the King of the Jews, so they set out for Jerusalem to worship him. Once they arrive, they inquire about baby Jesus with Herod, the region’s ruler appointed by Rome. “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage,” Matthew tells us.

But Herod is worried by the idea. He and his own wise men supposedly seek to discover Jesus’ birthplace. Eventually, they call on the wise men to ask when the star appeared. And thanks to Micah’s prophesy that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, Herod sends the trio to Bethlehem to search for Jesus. (Supposedly, Herod also ultimately kills the infants of Bethlehem in an attempt to snuff out Jesus.)

According to Matthew, “When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.”

Supernova RCW 86, the oldest known supernova in recorded history, was seen by Chinese astronomers in 185 A.D.

X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO & ESA; Infared: NASA/JPL-Caltech/B. Williams (NCSU)

Evidence for the Star of Bethlehem

For centuries, astronomers have looked to the historical record in search of evidence for what could explain this Star of Bethlehem. Scholars have been discussing potential causes since at least the 13th century. Perhaps it was a supernova, a comet, a solar flare or an alignment of planets. Or, alternatively, maybe it never happened at all. The truth is, science will likely never know the truth.

But let’s entertain the idea that it was a real celestial event. What are some science-backed explanations that could explain the Star of Bethlehem?

Well, the story is relatively vague, but it does give us some clues.

Some things are easily ruled out. For example, the Star of Bethlehem couldn’t have been a meteor — a chunk of space rock that brightly burns up in Earth’s atmosphere — which would’ve appeared and faded in an instant. There’s no way three wise men could have tracked a meteor for weeks.

It’s also unlikely that a supernova — the explosive death of a star, which drastically increases its brightness for days, weeks or months — could explain the Star of Bethlehem. Supernovae, or “guest stars” have been consistently witnessed and recorded going back thousands of years. So if one had happened, other cultures likely would have taken note.

And even if it somehow escaped the written historical record, astronomers have observed remnants of many other ancient supernovae. And by estimating their peak brightness, researchers have even tied some remnants to events seen on Earth in the past. Yet telescopes haven’t found any evidence for a supernova remnant that sync up with the timing of the Star of Bethlehem. In fact, the only supernova that was visible from Earth around the time of Christ’s birth actually happened in the year 185 A.D. and was recorded by Chinese astronomers.

Giotto__Scrovegni__18__Adoration_of_the_Magi

Italian painter Giotto di Bondone witnessed Halley’s Comet when it appeared in 1301 A.D. Then, he painted the Star of Bethlehem as a comet burning bright above Jesus in the manger. Wikimedia Commons

A Christmas Comet?

In the past, some interested astronomers have also suggested the Star of Bethlehem was a comet passing near Earth. These icy bodies from the distant solar system often shine quite brightly when they venture into the inner solar system and are heated by the Sun. They’re also known for sometimes visibly lingering in the sky for weeks or months at a time. And like supernovae, we also have historical records from other cultures regarding comets.

Sure enough, in the year 5 B.C., Chinese astronomers noted the appearance of a “Broom Star” that many researchers have interpreted as a comet. Like supernovae, Chinese scholars noted many historic comets, and even recorded a number of times that meteor impacts killed people.

In the 1970s, researchers caught onto the timing coincidence of this Chinese “Broom Star,” and a string of papers started popping up in scientific journals debating the idea, among other inspirations. All the back and forth culminated in a 1977 story in The New York Times written by legendary science journalist Walter Sullivan that suggested it could have been a comet, conjunction, nova or simply myth. Clearly, no consensus opinion has emerged in the decades since, either.

So, could a comet have been the Star of Bethlehem? There’s no way to rule it out, but there is one obvious reason to doubt it.

Keep in mind that people in the ancient world typically saw comets as symbols of pending doom — an evil omen of bad things about to happen. So, if a comet suddenly started shining brightly in the night sky, it’s hard to imagine three wise men would interpret it as a sign that their savior had finally been born.

A triple conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn occurred in 7 B.C. At first glance, these illustrations look the same, but compare the positions of the planets with the background stars. On May 29, Jupiter passed Saturn (both moving right to left) for the first time. Jupiter passed Saturn again September 30 with both moving to the right (west). Finally, the planets resumed eastward motion, and Jupiter passed Saturn for the third time December 5.

Astronomy/Roen Kelly

Ancient great conjunction

What about a mash-up of planets like the upcoming Great Conjunction of 2020? Could that explain the Star of Bethlehem?

When you rewind the motion of the planets — something that’s easy to do with observing software these days — you can see that several interesting conjunctions played out in the years around the life of Jesus. (A planetary conjunction happens when two planets make a close approach to each other in Earth’s night sky. The two objects aren’t actually near each other, though, they just look that way from our vantage point.)

In the year 7 B.C., Jupiter and Saturn had three conjunctions in the same constellation, Pisces. Because the planets move in their orbits at different speeds, and are located at different distances, sometimes they appear to pass one another in the night sky. They can also appear to hold still or move backward in the sky, which astronomers call retrograde motion. This trick is like passing a slower car on the highway. As you get close to the other vehicle, it seems to hold still beside you. Then, as you pull away, it drops backward. The same thing happens as Earth zips around the Sun much faster than the outer planets.

However, Jupiter is closer to the Sun than Saturn, so it also appears to move faster in our night sky.

So, if Jupiter and Saturn had three close conjunctions in a relatively brief period of time, it’s easy to imagine that ancient astronomers — really, astrologers — would have taken note. And they also likely would have ascribed some meaning to the event.

These same astrologers wouldn’t have had to wait long for an even more striking planetary encounter. Four years later, in the summer of 3 B.C., Jupiter and Venus met in an event that would have looked much like the upcoming “Christmas Star,” also referred to as the Great Conjunction of December 2020.

On the morning of August 12 in 3 B.C., Jupiter and Venus would’ve sat just 1/10th a degree apart in the dawn sky. That’s one-fifth the diameter of the Full Moon. (The December 2020 conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn will have an identical separation, albeit in the evening sky.) That wasn’t the end of the show, either. Venus and Jupiter continued their dance over most of the next year before finally appearing to merge into a single star in June.

Though not perfect, your hand (with your arm fully outstretched) is a great tool for estimating angles in the night sky. [The Conversation]

The idea that a conjunction between bright planets could explain the Star of Bethlehem isn’t new. A note in the Annals of the Abbey of Worcester from 1285 A.D. points out an alignment of Jupiter and Saturn that happened at the time of Jesus’ birth. And Johannes Kepler himself touched on the idea in the 17th century.

Myth or reality?

Since then, many enthusiastic astronomers — and eager amateurs — have also pointed to other celestial positions playing out around the same time as further evidence that ancient astrologers would’ve found meaning in these events. Bright stars and planets were moving through important constellations. Still others have suggested that the Star of Bethlehem might not have been one celestial event at all. Instead, taken together, the combined effect of years of these astronomical events may have led the Magi to see signs a new king had been born.

But could any of these things have really caused the Star of Bethlehem?”

With this part of the article in Astronomy Magazine, we will be able to see to a great extent how our evidence supports the position of “a Celestial Prelude” that allowed the Magi to recognize the series of celestial signs that led them to the Star that marked the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. We will start with the links for the Dec. 14th, 2014 blog post on Jesus Christ’ birth date; Parts 1 & 2, attended by the May 16th, 2015 study on the Blood Moon Tetrad and the Celestial Prelude. This is followed by our study on the Jupiter-Venus triple union marking the birth of Christ in 3-2BC. Our next installment pertains to evidence for the Coma Super-
nova leading up to and following Christ’s birth, explaining how a supernova witnessed by 2 of the most renown ancient astronomers, Hipparcus and Ptolemy, has a key bearing on the birth of Christ. The reader will note that our position is based on a more exhaustive view of the history of Jupiter–Saturn conjunction cycles, and their impact on biblical events related to Jerusalem & the history of the Biblical Patriarchs, bringing many details to light, heretofore unseen or realized.

December 14^th Birth date of Jesus Christ [Pt. 1]

December 25^th Birth date of Jesus Christ [Pt. 2]

May 16^th Blood Moon Tetrad and the Celestial Prelude

July 26th Jupiter-Venus triple conjunction and Regulus with the Birth and Return of Christ

November 20^th New Evidence of the Coma Supernova and the Birth of Christ.

Oct. 20^th The Biblical Astronomy of the Birth and Return of Jesus Christ and the Dual Fulfillment of Revelation 12, [Part 1]

Nov. 15^th The Biblical Astronomy of the Christmas Day Signs in 2 BC and 2017

Sept. 10^th Comet Giacobini-Zinner and the Birth and Return of Jesus Christ.

November 1^st The Celestial Prelude and the Blood Moons of 5 BC, [Part 1].

Dec. 17th, The Jupiter-Saturn Timeline, The Celestial Prelude and The Coma Supernova.

With this selection of research posts, we trust that the reader is presented with enough evidence from scientific astronomy, not astrology which is forbidden in Scripture, as to the true nature of the Star of Bethlehem, not only in prophecy that was fulfilled, but also with verifiable scientific evidence. This allows the Scriptural narrative of the Bethlehem star to be separated from mythology to truth of Scripture. I welcome any questions and feedback!

As we abide vigilant in the Hope of Christ’s Return, may we all enjoy the riches of God’s Blessings in the abundant life He has called us to, rejoicing in the truth with our brothers and sisters in the Church of the spiritual body of Christ!!

God Bless,

Rene’

Footnotes

1. Astronomy Magazine on Friday, December 18, 2020; The Star of Bethlehem: Can science explain what it really was? This reprint is an excerpt of the article by Eric Betz.

2. The links supplied to conclude this month’s blog are all from the archives of previous blog posts [@blog.try-god.org], or my website studies [@try-god.com]

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The Biblical Astronomy of the Miracle of Joshua’s Long Day

The Biblical Astronomy of the Miracle of Joshua’s Long Day

In Jon Nessle’s current OT History class, we have learned of key errors linked to the dating of the conventional chronologies, of history, and the assumptions that accompany their popularized time placement, that have caused no end of confusion for archaeology, Bible historians, and students. We will see how Courville’s redating of Bible History has provided much-needed answers to the numerous problems linked to the conventional chronology. We will also note some modern historians and Bible Archaeologists that not only agree with Courville’s redating, but provided key evidences in support of it. The following quotes from Courville provide the context of this position along with the benefits that come with their acceptance. This provides an important backdrop for the subject of this month’s blog, an astronomical event known as Joshua’s Long Day. The focus of this study is an alternative timeline to the conventional chronology, along with some existing and newer research connected to Joshua’s Long Day. The first reference from Courville addresses certain cultural innovations that the Hebrews brought in their invasion and conquest of Palestine, led by Joshua.

“The pottery of the period is exceptionally fine… At Megiddo there is a complicated succession of building periods …. Early in the sequence comes a very fine town wall… and is a most impressive example of the town walls of this period. This phase can be taken as representative of the fully developed culture of Canaanite [sic] Palestine, a culture of prosperous city-states. Against the background of the revised chronology, the ancient Hebrews were far from being a cipher culturally. It was the Hebrews who introduced the use of bronze into Palestine; it was the Hebrews who introduced the use of the fast wheel in making pottery; it was the Hebrews who introduced the high level of culture to be observed in Palestine at the beginning of Middle Bronze and which was never exceeded; it was the Hebrews who introduced the use of drainage systems and the use of cisterns as a means of preserving water from the rainy season; it was the Hebrews who introduced improvements in the architecture of dwellings and defense walls; it was very probably the Hebrews who introduced the technique for obtaining iron from its ores in quantity. These and other contributions to the culture of Middle Bronze Age in Palestine should be credited to the Hebrews and not to their pagan
contemporaries, the Canaanites or the Amorites. However, all this is true only if it is possible to erect a satisfactory chronological structure of the ancient world on the foundations laid by a redating of the end of Early Bronze to c. 1400 B.C., some 600 years later than dates currently attributed to this change of culture. This is an exceedingly large IF. While it has already been shown that a number of large problems in archaeology are provided solutions by this alteration, this is only a start. It must also be shown that every significant synchronism which has been used to support the conventional structure is either ill-founded or else, that it continues to hold for
the revised structure; it must be shown that the almost infinite bits of information gleaned archaeologically can be rationally interpreted against this revised background; it must be shown that all of the chronologies of other ancient nations can be revised as necessary to fit into this revised scheme; it must be shown that the various methods of dating that have been used in arriving at the presently accepted structure are not valid, including the so-called astronomical dating methods.”

“And finally, it must be explained why most scholars in the field for the last half-century and more have fallen into the same errors of fallacious reasoning without being able to recognize the nature of their mistakes which have led them to the currently accepted views. Not only is this possible, it can be done with the continued elimination of numerous added difficulties characterizing the conventional structure and with the appearance of a number of noteworthy synchronisms that have not been previously recognized. The writer does not ask the reader to accept these claims per se. He only asks that the reader follow carefully and critically the developments outlined in the subsequent chapters of this work, evaluating for them the evidence which are presented in support of a revised chronology of Egypt which agrees with Bible chronology and with Bible history without an appreciable flaw.” [HEBREW CULTURE p. 113-114 THE EXODUS PROBLEM] 1

At this point, we are content to note that the same shift in dating at the end of Early Bronze which provides solutions to anomalies at Jericho, and at Ai, as well as providing a ready solution to the enigmas of Hittite chronology, also provides the proper setting for the events of the Exodus, the Conquest of Joshua, and the era of the Judges. A major issue with the Conventional Chronology where the history of ancient Egypt is concerned, is the lack of precise evidence to delineate epochal divisions between Stone, Bronze & Iron ages, to mark the transitions between these epochs. Courville is one of the very few who has aligned the layers of the archaeological digs starting in Jericho, as documented by Kenyon, from the end of the Jews 40-year wilderness wandering after the Exodus, with Joshua’s conquest and displacement of the Canaanites, Amorites, et al. in Palestine.

On the basis of the multiplicity of synchronisms indicating that the Conquest should properly be set at the end of Earlv Bronze IV, it was concluded that the Exodus occurred at the point of the fall of the Old Kingdom, approximately marked by the end of Dynasty VI. This point is marked by a similar eclipse of power in Egypt which lasted for a pluralitv of centuries. [3] On the basis of the demands of the redating of the end of Early Bronze, it was necessary to recognize both these periods as one and the same. 2

The identification of the line of Pharaoh’s just before the Hyksos kings, puts us in the proper position to reveal the pharaoh of the Oppression, which provides confirmation of this general structure. Thus, it will be possible also to show clearly the identity of the Pharaoh of the Oppression who carried out an extensive building program in brick in the eastern Delta region where the Israelites lived. A famine inscription appears, dated almost exactly at the point required by Old Testament Chronology relative to the Exodus, dated c. 1445 B.C., with a multiple of confirming evidences for the proposed setting of the Exodus. This scenario put forward by Courville in THE EXODUS PROBLEM, is the setting of my Nov. 2022 blog, that handles details of Joshua’s Conquest, to agree with the Scriptural and historical account of events as seen in Joshua 10. 3

Joshua 10:1-6
1 Now it came to pass when Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem heard how Joshua had taken Ai and had utterly destroyed it—as he had done to Jericho and its king, so he had done to Ai and its king—and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them, ²that they feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, like one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all its men were mighty. ³Therefore Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem sent to Hoham king of Hebron, Piram king of Jarmuth, Japhia king of Lachish, and Debir king of Eglon, saying, ⁴“Come up to me and help me, that we may attack Gibeon, for it has made peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel.” ⁵Therefore the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon, gathered together and went up, they and all their armies, and camped before Gibeon and made war against it. ⁶And the men of Gibeon sent to Joshua at the camp at Gilgal, saying, “Do not forsake your servants; come up to us quickly, save us and help us, for all the kings of the Amorites who dwell in the mountains have gathered together against us.”

This Biblical record begins in verse 1 by recounting how “Joshua had taken Ai and had utterly destroyed it—as he had done to Jericho and its king, so he had done to Ai and its king—and
how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them.” This is in general agreement with Courville’s redating of the conventional chronology, to a time when Joshua was conquering the cities of Jericho, and Ai, as we find in the following reference from Courville.

XII. “Other Peoples Migrated out of Palestine at the End of Early Bronze age, in line with Scripture, as it was not alone the Hittites who were to be displaced by the incoming Israelites. If the proposed redating of the Conquest is correct, then there should be evidence of the settlement of other peoples in areas outside Palestine that previously had resided within this territory. The Phoenicians who settled along the northern coast of the Mediterranean refer to themselves as the Canaanites, [60] people also displaced from Palestine by the Israelites. The Mitannians appear to be a remnant of one branch of the Hurrians who similarly dwelt in Palestine previously. [61] The Amorites were in the Palestine area from the time of Abraham. They were displaced at the time of the Conquest, and appear in the area north of Palestine as the Amurru, a name associated with the Amorites. [62]
A consistent picture results from the recognition that Early Bronze represents the era just prior to the conquest of Joshua and the following transition period is that of the Conquest itself.” [p. 98 THE EXODUS PROBLEM.] 4

As this Biblical record agrees with Courville’s redating of Joshua’s Conquest at the End of Early Bronze age, confirmed by the displacement of the men of Jericho, Ai, and the Amorites, many other thorny historical problems associated with the Conventional Chronology find solutions also.

Joshua 10:7-11 ⁷So Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valor. ⁸And the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not fear them, for I have delivered them into your hand; not a man of them shall stand before you.” 9 Joshua therefore came upon them suddenly, having marched all night from Gilgal. 10 So the Lord routed them before Israel, killed them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, chased them along the road that goes to Beth Horon,
and struck them down as far as Azekeh and Makkedah.¹¹And it happened, as they fled before Israel and were on the descent of Beth Horon, that the Lord cast down large hail-stones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died. There were more who died from the hailstones than the children of Israel killed with the sword.

This was a singular battle in world military history because as verse 11 above recounts; it was the Lord who cast down large hailstones from heaven on the fleeing Amorites. The Lord of Hosts was fighting from Heaven for Israel against their enemies in Palestine, and the large hail-stones God sent raining down in a meteor shower on them, killed more of the enemy than the Israelites themselves. This harmonizes with Josh. 10:8 above, which says “I [God] have delivered them into your hand,” but this miracle, that recalls the signs from heaven akin to the destruction of Sodom and Gommorah, [Gen. 18:17-32] to a lesser degree, was only an astronomical foretaste of what was in store for these enemies of God’s people.

Joshua 10:12-15 ¹²Then Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel: “Sun, stand still over Gibeon; And Moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.” ¹³So the sun stood still, And the moon stopped, Till the people had revenge upon their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. ¹⁴And there has been no day like that, before it or after it, that the Lord heeded the voice of a man; for the Lord fought for Israel. ¹⁵Then Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal.

The locations of Gibeon, Beth Horon and the Valley of Aijalon, Azekah and Makkedah as Joshua pursued the Amorites, are shown in figure 1. 5

Map of ancient Canaan showing the route taken by the Israelites, starting at Gilgal, according to Joshua 10:9–10.

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This Map of ancient Canaan shows the route taken by the Israelites, starting at Gilgal, then to the great slaughter @ Gibeon, to pursue them unto Beth Horon, where the large hail-stones started falling, then Aijalon over which the Moon stood, [Josh. 10:12], then unto Azekah and Makkedah according to Joshua 10:9–11. The book of Joshua continues in the Old Testament, after an all-night march from Gilgal, the Israelites attacked the Amorites at Gibeon, and then pursued them to Azekah and then to Makkedah (fig. 1). As evidence from historical geography shows the locations of these sites: Gibeon was about 10 km northwest of Jerusalem, Azekah about 30 km southwest of Gibeon, and Makkedah about 20 km south of Azekah. 6

Prior research into this topic by Humphreys and Waddington aids the conventional chronology of astronomy, with related data in the fields of Egyptology and Hebrew studies. So how did these two physicists proceed in their research regarding an event that’s only obliquely referred to in an ancient Bible text? Their multidisciplinary task according to them, required a foray into ancient Hebrew, a rethinking of Egypt’s royal history, and some complex calculations about the Earth’s rotation. Their inquiry began with the translation of the Hebrew word “dôm,” from Joshua 10. In English versions of the Bible, it’s usually translated as “stopped,” as in the sun “stopped moving.” When discussing the word with Alan Millard, a professor of Hebrew and ancient Semitic languages, Humphreys pondered whether it could actually mean the sun “stopped shining”—that may suggest an eclipse. In order to date the eclipse, the Cambridge researchers included a new “eclipse code” which examined variations in the Earth’s rotation over time. 7

Earlier researchers also only looked at total eclipses, failing to consider that the text may refer to an annular eclipse, in which the moon passes directly in front of the sun, but is too far away to cover the disc completely, they said. From their calculations, the Cambridge researchers found that the only annular eclipse visible from Canaan between 1500 and 1050 BC was on Oct. 30, 1207 BC, in the afternoon.

Historical evidence from the Merneptah Stele, a text from the reign of the Pharaoh Merneptah, shows that the Israelites were in Canaan between 1500 and 1050 BC. This large granite block held in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo says that it was carved in the 5th year of Merneptah’s reign and mentions a campaign in Canaan in which he defeated the people of Israel. If correct, it enables academics to date the reigns of Ramesses the Great and his son Merneptah, to within a year.

Figure 2. The Merneptah Stele. 8

The Merneptah Stele (ca. 1208 BC) is a 10-foot tall, granite victory monument, which names Israel as a nation in Canaan.

The most famous, and arguably the most important discovery related to Moses and the Exodus is the Merneptah Stele. In ca. 1208 B.C. Pharaoh Merneptah erected a 10-foot tall victory monument (called a stele) in a temple at Thebes to boast of his claims of victory in both Libya and Canaan. It was discovered in 1896 by Sir Flinders Petrie. On it, Merneptah boasts, “Israel is wasted, its seed is not; And Hurru (Canaan) is become a widow because of Egypt.”⁹

Most scholars agree that this is the oldest definitive reference to Israel as a nation outside of the Bible, and certainly the clearest Egyptian reference to Israel. It is also important because it points towards an early date for the Exodus (ca. 1446 B.C. agreeing with Courville) and not the late date that some scholars hold to (ca. 1270 B.C.). It is doubtful that there would be enough time from 1270 B.C. to 1208 B.C. to account for the Exodus, the 40 years of wandering in the desert, the seven-year conquest of Canaan, the settlement of the tribes in their territories, and the establishment of a national presence in the land, all before Merneptah claims to have conquered them. Merneptah’s Canaanite campaign instead likely dates to the time of the Judges, when the nation of Israel was already settled in Canaan. The Merneptah Stele is evidence that the Exodus from Egypt, led by Moses, took place in the 15^th century BC, as the biblical data indicates. 10

The later dates from mainstream Egyptologists for the reign of Ramesses II are c. 1279–1213 BC, with his son Merneptah reigning from c. 1213–1203 BC (Shaw 2003, Horning et al. 2006, Kitchen 2013). These dates are subject to some uncertainty, with the latest possible dates for Ramesses II being 1270–1204 BC, and for Merneptah 1204–1194 BC (Kitchen 2013). Some other researchers, most notably Rohl (1995), have proposed an alternative chronology for ancient Egypt in which these dates are advanced by several hundred years. Their “New Chronology” has achieved widespread publicity alongside widespread criticism from mainstream Egyptologists. In this “New Chronology,” the 5th year of Merneptah is 867 BC. 11

Changes to Egyptian history that Humphreys suggests pertain to the ruling period of each pharaoh, including Merneptah, during whose reign the Merneptah Stele was carved. Merneptah was the son of Rameses the Great, one of Egypt’s most famous pharaohs, and there’s been considerable debate over the years about when Rameses was in power. With the combination of a date from the solar eclipse, and the carving of the Stele, Humphreys and Waddington have proposed years for the pharaohs’ reigns that narrow their reigns down to plus or minus one year. They argue Rameses the Great ruled from 1276 to 1210 BC, while Merneptah was in power from 1210 to 1200 BC.

Prof. Humphreys added: “Solar eclipses are often used as a fixed point to date events in the ancient world. Eclipses have also shaped human events, says Duncan Steel, author of Eclipse: The Celestial Phenomenon That Changed the Course of History. “Historically, they have been pivotal in deciding battles,” including the 585 BC eclipse that stopped a battle between the Medes and the Lydians. The Greek philosopher Thales had predicted the eclipse, and when darkness did fall, the warring sides viewed it as an omen and hurried to come to a peaceful agreement. 12

The Bible puts the Israelites in Canaan from the beginning of the Conquest through the destruction of the Temple in about 586-5 BC, so this gives a span of many centuries for a potential conflict between Egypt and Israel. Why choose the first year of that span as the date, when Merneptah’s reference on the stele must have occurred? A primary reason to link Merneptah’s stele with Israel’s conquest of Canaan seems to be first based on tradition, that the Exodus occurred during the reign of Ramesses II. Second, that the Merneptah Stele is the consensus among Egyptologists and historians as the oldest reference to Israel in the history of ancient Egypt, providing an anchor point for their thesis, with this eclipse linked to it. Thus the conclusions of their research are grounded, assuming the conquest happened congruently with Merneptah, as proof that Merneptah reigned during the time of the conquest in 1207 BC, near the possible Joshua eclipse date of the same year. Also if the idea of an exclusive annular eclipse is correct, as the only eclipse candidate to suffice in the situation, eliminating the possibility of other partial eclipses, it would seemingly strengthen their position.

Previous claims of the earliest recorded eclipse include images carved into stone cairns at Loughcrew in Co Meath, Ireland, over 5,000 years ago, while Greek astronomer Ptolemy claimed that the first recorded eclipse was observed by the Babylonians in March 721 BC. The results are published in the Royal Astronomical Society Journal of Astronomy & Geophysics. 13

Were Humphrey’s & Waddington the first to propose an eclipse interpretation for Joshua’s Long Day? In fact, another linguist named Robert Wilson came to the same conclusion of an eclipse interpretation of Joshua 10, nearly 100 years earlier. And while previous scientists had attempted to find solar eclipses for that period and failed, they’d never thought to look for an annular eclipse, which occurs when the moon only partially covers the sun, leaving a ring of light visible at the edges. “That convinced me that ‘eclipse’ was the right translation,” Humphreys says.

Humphreys looked to the giant stone inscription on the Merneptah Stele, as corroboration that the Israelites really were in Canaan during the time of a supposed eclipse. He referenced the Egyptian text believed to be the earliest textual reference to Israel, specifically its final few lines of hieroglyphics that refer to a battle with the Israelites in Canaan, correlated to the Old Testament.

If these words are describing a real observation, then a major astronomical event was being reported (“There has been no day like it, before or since”, Joshua 10:14), but what does the text mean? The Hebrew word dôm means to be silent, dumb or still. The term ‘amad is a broader word meaning to stop or stand. Modern English translations of this passage, such as the NRSV quoted above, have all followed the King James Authorized Version (of 1611), and assumed that the Hebrew text means the Sun and Moon stopped moving. However, a plausible alternative meaning is that the Sun and Moon stopped doing what they normally do: they stopped shining. In other words, the text is referring to a solar eclipse, when the Sun stops shining. As a solar eclipse can only occur with the Moon directly between the Earth and the Sun, the Moon itself is not visible and so it is not reflecting sunlight to the Earth – like the Sun, it has “stopped shining” as well. 14

As the first person to suggest that Joshua 10:12–14 was referring to a solar eclipse, the linguist Robert Wilson (1918), who over 100 years ago gave the following translation:

Be eclipsed, O sun, in Gibeon, And the moon in the valley of Aijalon! And the sun was eclipsed and the moon turned back, while the nation was avenged on its enemies.

Wilson claimed that in Babylonian cuneiform texts there are words with the same root as the Hebrew dôm that are used in Babylonian astronomical tablets in connection with eclipses, meaning “to be dark”. However, at that time, 100 years ago, it was not deemed possible to investigate this further because of the laborious nature of the calculations required. 15 (Russell 1918).

As we check the Hebrew words used in Joshua 10:12–13, from the same Hebrew root as dôm, they generally agree with the Babylonian meaning “to be dark.” The related Hebrew words included from Strong’s Concordance [H1820, H1826 and H1724]. H1820– “damah= to cease, rest, silenced, be quiet, make an end, destroyed, laid waste, desolate, cut off, to perish.” The Hebrew verb refers to violent ends, seen in Isa. 15:1, Jer. 14:17, Hos. 4:5–6. All 3 of these references include the word “night“ [H3915] with the darkness linked to it, as in Gen. 1:5 where God divided the day from the night, and Gen. 1:14, where the heavenly lights of the firmament divide the day from the night, for signs, seasons, days and years. See also [Ps. 19:2, Ex. 13:21-22]. Solar and Lunar eclipses surely qualify as key heavenly signs, in the Creator’s celestial order, so this favors a Scriptural view of an eclipse interpretation for Josh. 10:12-14. 16

Sawyer (1972 ) followed up the suggestion of Wilson (1918) that Joshua 10:12–14 refers to a solar eclipse and considered the dates of all total solar eclipses visible from Gibeon between 1500 and 1050 BC (giving generous limits to the possible dates of the entry of Joshua into Canaan). He found that there were only two such eclipses, on 19 Aug. 1157 BC and on 30 Sept. 1131 BC. However, both these dates are significantly later than the latest date that Humphreys and Waddington‘ calculations allow for Joshua to have entered Canaan, as the latest possible date for the fifth year of Merneptah, 1200/ 1199 BC, using the Merneptah Stele as their anchor for this claim. Historians and Bible scholars in agreement with their calculations have therefore, to date ruled out a solar eclipse interpretation of Joshua 10:12–14. 17

However, as we will see below, there are other eclipses visible from Gibeon between 1500 and 1050 BC, within these “generous limits” for the possible dates of the entry of Joshua into Canaan, but much earlier, c. 1400 BC than 1207 BC, which we will discuss presently.

People in the ancient world did not distinguish between total and annular solar eclipses. It is not until as late as 1292AD, that we find a separate expression in the Chinese eclipse records to describe an annular eclipse; both of the annular eclipses of 7 August 198 BC and 27 July AD 306, were recorded by the Chinese as being total. Thus they revisited the solar eclipse interpretation of Josh. 10:12–14 to see if there was an annular eclipse visible in the same time frame as was used by Sawyer. [18]

The calculations of the Cambridge researchers found the only annular eclipse visible from Gibeon between 1500 and 1050 BC (using the same limits to the possible dates of entry of Joshua into Canaan as did Sawyer [1972]) was on 30 October 1207 BC, in the afternoon. The calculated track of the annular eclipse of 30 October 1207 BC is shown below in figure 2, which passed directly over the land of Canaan. 19

Figure 2. The path of the Annular Solar Eclipse of 30 October 1207 BC. 20

The path of the annular solar eclipse of 30 October 1207 BC, which passed directly over the land of Canaan in the afternoon. The shadow leaves the Earth's surface at sunset over modern day Iraq. The map is centred on Azekah, which is marked with a circle.

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The path of the annular solar eclipse of 30 October 1207 BC, over-shadowed the land of Canaan in the afternoon. The shadow left the Earth’s surface at sunset over modern-day Iraq. The map is centered on Azekah, which is marked by a circle. 21

Solar eclipse of 1207 BC

Because the eclipse occurred in the afternoon, it was probably seen from near Azekah, from where the annular eclipse would have started at 15:27 (local apparent time as given by a sundial), with annularity occurring between 16:48 and 16:53. The Sun would still have been partially eclipsed at sunset, which occurred at 17:38. During annularity, 86% of the solar disc’s area was covered by the Moon. 22

An interesting feature of the Joshua text is the observation that not only did the Sun stop (shining) but the Moon also stopped (shining). As the Moon is in conjunction at the time of a solar eclipse it is effectively absent from the sky for a couple of days (it has “stopped shining”). As the Israelites used an observationally based lunar calendar they would have been well aware of this monthly period of lunar invisibility and so could have timed their surprise night-time attack at Gibeon to take advantage of the lack of natural night-time illumination at this time.

After reporting that the Sun stopped (shining), the book of Joshua states further that “The Sun did not hurry to set for about a whole day” (Joshua 10:13, NRSV), which has given rise to the term “Joshua’s Long Day.” What did the writer mean? Figure 3 shows the level of illumination on the ground at Azekah during the annular eclipse and Figure 4 shows the appearance of the Sun as viewed from Azekah at three-minute intervals. 23

Figure 3. The level of illumination on the ground at Azekah during the annular eclipse of 30 October 1207 BC, as a function of the local apparent time as given by a sundial. The thin line shows the normal illumination in the absence of an eclipse. The red line gives the illumination during the eclipse, showing the double-dusk effect. 24

The level of illumination on the ground at Azekah during the annular eclipse of 30 October 1207 BC, as a function of the local apparent time as given by a sundial. The thin line shows the normal illumination in the absence of an eclipse. The red line gives the illumination during the eclipse, showing the double-dusk effect.

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Figure 4. The appearance of the Sun viewed from Azekah on 30 October 1207 BC, at three-minute intervals. The Sun was still partially eclipsed at sunset. 25

The appearance of the Sun viewed from Azekah on 30 October 1207 BC at three-minute intervals. The Sun was still partially eclipsed at sunset.

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All ancient civilizations would have been accustomed to the Sun going down in the afternoon, leading to daylight turning into dusk, and then turning into night. However, on this occasion, in the afternoon the light from the Sun on Canaan started decreasing from its normal level at about 15:30 until at about 16:50, it was approximately ten times less intense than normal, and dusk set in (notice that figure 3 is plotted on a logarithmic scale to match the approximate response of the human visual system). However, by around 17:10 the level of illumination would have been somewhat restored before dusk fell again, and then the Sun finally set at about 17:38. What the Israelites would have witnessed was a double dusk. 26

In attempting to describe this double dusk it is only natural that the Israelites would have done so in terms of their normal experience of the diurnal cycle. Although aware that on this occasion the time interval between the two dusks was less than the normal day, the book of Joshua records “about a whole day” (NRSV) for this period of time. In fact, the Hebrew text here is “like a whole day”, the preposition like also means as, and so the phrase can mean “as on a whole day” (Millard, private communication). 27

The appearance of the annular eclipse of 30 Oct. 1207 BC we are considering is shown in figure 4. Both before and after annularity, the eclipse takes on the appearance of a crescent, mimicking the form [crescent] of the Moon around both the end and beginning of a lunar month.

What Humphrey’s and Waddington have failed to mention in their proposed annular eclipse of Oct. 1207 BC, as seen in Figure 4 above, is that their thesis rests upon the exclusivity of an annular eclipse, separate from a solar eclipse. However, with annularity occurring only between 16:48 and 16:53 pm, briefly for 5 min, the rest of this event falls into the category of a Partial Lunar eclipse, as the Crescent Moon covers increasing parts of the Sun for 81 min. leading up to annularity from the east, after which the Moon uncovers the Sun for 45 added minutes till dusk, as the Sun would still have been partially eclipsed at sunset, which occurred at 17:38. So for the entire eclipse period of 131 minutes duration of this annular solar eclipse, it was a Partial Lunar eclipse for 126 minutes.

The article by Humphreys and Waddington prompted rabbinic scholar Eli Gurevich to contact David Rohl with this idea of a partial eclipse fitting the requirements just as much as an annular eclipse. He referenced the NASA eclipse tables, which show partial eclipses typically crossing Canaan several times in every decade. Remarkably, a total eclipse passed just north of Canaan on July 14, 1405 BC
(one year needs to be added to the NASA numbers to arrive at the correct BC date). This lines up perfectly with a common early date proposed for the Exodus of 1446 BC, with the Conquest starting in 1405 BC. 28

Figure 5. Total Solar Eclipse North of Canaan on July 14th, 1405. 29

The **solar eclipse of 1405 BC** with the blue band showing the zone of totality.

A Total Solar Eclipse most likely is better suited to fit the Biblical context of Joshua 10, more than an annular eclipse because the darkness experienced in a total solar eclipse is greater than the annular eclipse, especially if both the Sun and Moon stood still during totality. This would have increased the shock and awe on the Amorites, not only making them easier prey for the attacking Israelites, but also agreeing with details of the Biblical text. In the comparison of the Hebrew text with the Babylonian cuneiform above, we looked at the Hebrew word H1820–damah, a prime root for the related Hebrew word H1826–damam, meaning to be dumb, astonished, put to silence, or to stop, stand still. If the eclipse stood still, stopping in its tracks during totality, the Israelites were allotted the extra time needed to complete the destruction of the Amorites, that Joshua had prayed for [Josh. 10:12] during this Long Day. 30

According to some critics, Humphrey’s and Waddington paper is a watered-down analysis of the Biblical account that is a consistent pattern for Colin Humphreys. He wrote a book on the Exodus that attempts to explain its occurrences as having been fulfilled by natural events rather than outright miracles, that he seems to discount here. Critics also call into question, how and why the paper Humphrey’s published in October 2017 with W. Graeme Waddington, is practically identical to, but did not credit a January 2017 published work by three Israelis: physicist Ḥezi Yitzḥak, Bible scholar Daniel Weinstaub, and archeologist Uzi Avner, in Hebrew journal Beyt Mikra requires further clarification. Despite the fact that this Israeli journal is in Hebrew, does Humphreys‘ claim independent inspiration for his thesis? 31

Critics also point out an even bigger problem, that Joshua’s long day couldn’t possibly have taken place in 1207 BC, according to the biblical account, since 1 Kings 6:1 states that building the First Temple began 480 years after the Exodus. It is evident that Joshua’s battle occurred soon after the 40 years of the Exodus. Advancing the date of 1207 BC, an additional 440 years into the future puts the building of the First Temple at 767 BC, which is 200 yrs after the traditionally accepted date of 970 BC. Historians have encountered difficulties in accounting for the detailed Biblical history of Israel in Canaan, listing each Judge and King, with the lack of time to compress every event in the books of Joshua, Judges, Ruth, and Samuel to fit between the 237 odd years from 1207 BC to 970 BC.

Added reasons to question the designation of the eclipse of 1207 BC as the only candidate to date the conquest, are the 20 factors from archaeology and the Bible that demonstrate that Ramesses II just does not fit with as the pharaoh of the Exodus. Some of these are highlighted in the documentary film and more are found in the book, both with the title Patterns of Evidence: The Exodus. The Biblical example from I Kings 6:1 above, also includes the fact that 1 Kings 6:1 has the Exodus occurring in the 480th year before Solomon began building the Temple, which puts it in the 1400s BC not the 1200s. Many attempt to dismiss this verse as merely being figurative of an abbreviated period, but a reference from Jephthah, of Israel’s judges, supports a more literal interpretation of the 1 Kings 6:1 chronology. It puts Israel already in the land for 300 years, long before the time that the House of David ascended to the throne and began to reign. 32

“While Israel lived 300 years in Heshbon and its villages, in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities that are on the banks of the Arnon, why didn’t you take them back at that time?”

– Judges 11:26 (ESV)

Speaking of this history, Courville says “the critical area of the structure is that from Jephthah to Saul. Jephthah stated that 300 years had elapsed from the conquest of Heshbon under Joshua to his own day. 25 Since the figure is a round number, it is evident that the figure was intended to be only approximate. It is here assumed that the actual period was closer to 290 years and this figure is here used in setting up the tentative chronology of [Figure 1]. On the late end of the 480-year period, we must allow 3 years in the reign of Solomon, 40 years for David, and 40 years for Saul. With the 40 years between the Exodus and the Conquest, 413 of the 480 years are accounted for. This leaves 67 years for the period from the victory over the Ammonites by Jephthah to the reign of Saul.” 33

In a new publication by Egyptologists and Biblical scholars Manfred Görg, Peter van der Veen and Christoffer Theis suggest that there may be an even earlier reference to Israel in Egyptian records. Manfred Görg discovered a broken statue pedestal containing hieroglyphic name-rings in the Egyptian Museum of Berlin and, after studying it with colleagues Peter van der Veen and Christoffer Theis, they suggest that one of the name-rings should be read as “Israel.” Not all scholars agree with their reading because of slight differences in spelling, but Görg, van der Veen and Theis offer strong arguments, including supportive parallels in the Merneptah Stele itself. This newly rediscovered inscription is dated to around 1400 B.C.—about 200 years earlier than the Merneptah Stele. If Görg, van der Veen and Theis are right, their discovery will shed important light on the beginnings of ancient Israel. 34

Figure 6. The Berlin Pedestal. 35

Berlin Pedestal

The Berlin Pedestal is an Egyptian inscription housed in the Egyptian Museum in Berlin that almost certainly refers to Israel as a nation in Canaan. The inscription has three name rings, two of which clearly read “Ashkelon” and “Canaan,” and a third that has been reconstructed to read, “Ishrael.”⁴³ In a recent re-examination of the inscription, Peter van der Veen, Christoffer Theis, and Manfred Gorg noted that names Ashkelon and Canaan largely were written consonantally and better reflecting examples from the reigns of Tuthmosis III and Amenhotep II (15th cent. BC), than those from the times of Rameses II and Merenptah (13th cent. BC).⁴⁴While the inscription reads “Ishrael” instead of “Israel,” there is no other candidate near Canaan and Ashkelon, other than biblical Israel. It may be that the “sh” spelling is an older way Egyptians spelled Israel, or perhaps borrowed from the cuneiform version.⁴⁵ If this interpretation is correct, it would indicate that the Israelites had migrated to Canaan sometime in the middle of the second millennium BC,⁴⁶exactly at the time the Bible says they did.

Figure 7. Granodiorite head of the 19th Dynasty pharaoh, Amenhotep. 36

Evidence for Amenhotep II as the Pharaoh of the Exodus

This granodiorite head of the **19th Dynasty pharaoh, Amenhotep**, was once part of a sphinx. It is currently housed in the **State Museum of Egyptian Art in Munich, Germany**. Photo: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg) / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0

Numerous scholars have identified Amenhotep II as the Pharaoh of the Exodus³¹; he was reigning in 1446 BC when the Israelites left Egypt. Amenhotep II is known to have spent considerable time in the delta region, likely in the 18^th-Dynasty palace at Avaris where he would have met with Moses. According to Egyptologist, Charles Aling, “Amenhotep II was born and raised in this area [the Nile delta region], built there, had estates there, and in all probability resided there at times, at least in his early regonal years.”³² Interestingly, (and in keeping with the 10^th plague – the death of the first-born), Amenhotep II was not the firstborn son of his predecessor, Thutmose III, nor was his successor, Thutmose IV his firstborn son, as implied by the Dream Stele on the Great Sphinx.³³

Another piece of evidence for identifying Amenhotep II as the pharaoh of the Exodus is found by comparing the military campaigns of Amenhotep II and those of his father. While Thutmose III led 17 known military campaigns into the Levant, Amenhotep II led only two or three.³⁴

Thutmose III boasted of having taken 5903 captives on his first campaign, while Amenhotep II claims to have taken 2214 captives on his first. However, Amenhotep II’s final campaign in the ninth year of his reign (ca. 1446 BC) appears to have been a hasty and limited excursion into Palestine to take 101,128 captives. One plausible explanation for this campaign and its dramatic number of captives is that he was seeking to replace a large portion of his slave labor base that had just left Egypt. Moreover, Amenhotep II never took another campaign into Canaan, and the 18^th dynasty began to decline in power. 37

In fact, there is strong evidence that the Bible shows the Judges period covered many centuries (not the 150 years allotted by the Ramesses Exodus Theory), that dictates the Exodus be pushed out 2 centuries before a 1207 BC dating of the Conquest. Additionally, The Bible has Moses being born around the time of the building of the city Rameses (Exodus chap. 1), which is the main basis of the Ramesses Exodus Theory. But the conquest happens 120 years later, after Moses’ death. For a 1207 BC Conquest that would mean the city of Ramesses was being built around 1327 BC, 27 years before Ramesses was born in Humphreys’ system. The Bible says in two places that the pharaoh who sought Moses’ life (40 years after Moses’ birth) died before the Exodus (when Moses was 80). Therefore the builder of the store city of Rameses could not possibly also be the pharaoh of the Exodus. 38

Now in Midian the Lord told Moses, “Return to Egypt, for all the men who wanted to kill you are dead.”

– Exodus 4:19 (ESV)

Then there is the archaeological evidence that shows no sign of massive numbers of Semites in Goshen during his reign, no sign of a collapse of Egypt as would be expected at the time of Exodus, and no pattern matching the Conquest of Canaan after his reign. That is why mainstream scholars are so skeptical of the Exodus account. These are just a few of the evidences that show that Ramesses was not the pharaoh of the Exodus and that Merneptah was not the pharaoh at the time of the conquest. When does the conquest account speak of a confrontation with Egypt anyway? For the Humphreys model to be factual, Egypt would have to have defeated Israel at a time when the Bible has the Israelites conquering city after city on their way to controlling most of Canaan. Nothing in this scenario adds up. 39

It is plausible that the Book of Joshua was describing a solar eclipse, but even if one agrees, there is no reason to confine this event to an annular eclipse strictly in 1207 BC. It has been shown that other total or partial eclipses over Canaan in the 1400s BC fit these data just as well, matching the Bible’s own context and timeline much better. Furthermore, evidence of an eclipse in Canaan in 1207 BC (whether or not it is related to the Israelites’ Conquest) gives no reason to connect that event to the reign of Merneptah, who in no other way (except by tradition) is connected to the Exodus or Conquest time period.

As Habakkuk memorably recounts the language of Joshua 10:12-13

Habakkuk 3:8-15

8 Were you angry with the rivers, Lord? Was your wrath against the streams?
Did you rage against the sea when you rode your horses and your chariots to victory?
⁹You uncovered your bow, you called for many arrows. You split the earth with rivers;
¹⁰ the mountains saw you and writhed. Torrents of water swept by; the deep roared and lifted its waves on high.
¹¹Sun and moon stood still in the heavens at the glint of your flying arrows,
at the lightning of your flashing spear.
¹²In wrath you strode through the earth and in anger you threshed the nations.
¹³You came out to deliver your people, to save your anointed one.
You crushed the leader of the land of wickedness, you stripped him from head to foot.
¹⁴With his own spear you pierced his head when his warriors stormed out to scatter us,
gloating as though about to devour the wretched who were in hiding.
¹⁵You trampled the sea with your horses, churning the great waters.

This month’s blog study favors an eclipse interpretation of Joshua 10:10-13, with the best candidate being the Total Solar Eclipse North of Canaan on July 14th, 1405, for the extended celestial sign of Joshua’s Long Day. This shows the lengths the Heavenly Father went to, in answer to Joshua’s prayer when he spoke to the Lord, in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel. Joshua had the great example of Moses to follow, from the Believer’s Hall of Fame in Heb. 11:23-30. As Jon Nessle has encouraged us, we would do well to follow Moses‘ example by working and believing his acts of faith. What will God do for you?!!

If God be for you, who can be against you?

Agape’

Rene’

Footnotes

1. THE EXODUS PROBLEM and its Ramifications p. 113-114, Donovan Courville.
2. IBID, p. 121.
3. IBID, p.
4. IBID, p. 98
5. Colin Humphreys, Graeme Waddington, Astronomy & Geophysics, Volume 58, Issue 5, October 2017, Pages 5.39–5.42, https://doi.org/10.1093/astrogeo/atx178
6. (Notley & Rainey, 2014)
7. Colin Humphreys and Graeme Waddington. ‘Solar eclipse of 1207 BC helps to date pharaohs.’ Astronomy & Geophysics (2017). DOI: 10.1093/astrogeo/atx178.
8. Photo: Todd Bolen, BiblePlaces.com https://www.bibleplaces.com/2014/01/artifact-of-month-merneptah-stela/Patterns of Evidence. [Picture credit]
9. Digging for Truth.
10. Patterns of Evidence
11. Kitchen 2013, Rohl 1995.
12. Colin Humphreys and Graeme Waddington. ‘Solar eclipse of 1207 BC helps to date pharaohs.’ Astronomy & Geophysics (2017). DOI: 10.1093/astrogeo/atx178.
13. IBID
14. https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/oldest-recorded-solar-eclipse-helps-date-the-egyptian-pharaohs.
15. IBID
16. Strong’s Concordance [H1820], James Strong.
17. Sawyer (1972 ), (Walton 1994 ).
18. https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/oldest-recorded-solar-eclipse-helps-date-the-egyptian-pharaohs.
19. IBID
20. IBID, Figure 2. picture credit.
21. https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/oldest-recorded-solar-eclipse-helps-date-the-egyptian-pharaohs.
22. IBID
23. IBID
24. IBID, Figure 3. picture credit.
25. IBID, Figure 4. picture credit.
26. https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/oldest-recorded-solar-eclipse-helps-date-the-egyptian-pharaohs.
27. IBID,
28. https://www.patternsofevidence.com/2017/11/10/is-this-solar-eclipse-really-joshuas-miracle/
29. IBID, Figure 5 Picture Credit, (courtesy of the NASA website)
30. Strong’s Concordance [H1826], James Strong.
31. Patterns of Evidence: The Exodus
32. IBID, https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/ancient-israel/does-the-merneptah-stele-contain-the-first-mention-of-israel/
33. THE EXODUS PROBLEM and its Ramifications p. 12, Donovan Courville.
34. https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/ancient-israel/does-the-merneptah-stele-contain-the-first-mention-of-israel/
35. Figure 6, picture credit. Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections, 2.4 (2010), 21.
36. Figure 7 picture credit, Photo: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg) / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0
37. https://biblearchaeologyreport.com/2021/09/24/top-ten-discoveries-related-to-moses-and-the-exodus/
38. IBID
39. IBID

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The Biblical Astronomy of the Luni-Solar Eclipses of 2021-2022.

The current Four Blood Moons of 2021-22 have not gotten the media attention that its predecessors have, most likely due to a technicality. Blood Moon Tetrads are recognized as four Total Lunar Eclipses in a row, but the Nov. 21st , 2021′ Lunar Eclipse
was not total, just missing with only 97% of the lunar surface covered in Earth’s shadow. This makes it a partial Lunar eclipse and technically rules out being classified as a Blood Moon Tetrad. For this reason, it may sneak up on people as opposed to the Tetrads of 1949-50, 1967-68, and the most recent of 2014-2015, seen in the title banner above. This however, does not mean it should be ignored, as there are notable signs on Jewish Holidays surrounding them!

As we approach the end of the recent Blood Moon Quartet of 2021-22, the focus of this blog will be how these current Blood Moons relate to the previous tetrad in 2014-15 with the signs of 2016-17. To understand this, we must be aware what is known on the Hebrew Calander as the Shemita Cycle. The Shemita cycle includes both a Shemita Year and Week cycle which is a 7-year Sabbath release, where there was rest for the land with no sowing or reaping in the 7th year, and financial slates were wiped clean, with debts forgiven and real estate reverting to the original owners, [Levi. 25:1-7].

In Levi. 25:8-9 God spoke to Moses with “thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years, and seven times seven years; and the space of seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. 9 Thou shalt cause the trumpet of Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of Atonement, shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. [see Levi. 25:10-13]

It is key to realize that these seven-year cycles of Shemita years are related to both the Feast of Trumpets announcing the Jubilee on the Day of Atonement, concluding the sabbath year, as it did when Jesus was crucified in 27-28AD. A Shemita cycle would be one of the seven-year periods in the “seven sabbaths of years” that leads to the 49 years,” culminating in the 50-year Jubilee. Not only this, but even at the start of the Lord’s Earthly Ministry in Luke 4:18-19, he preached to them in the Acceptable year of the Lord, referencing that Jesus‘ laying down his life, was divinely approved by the Heavenly Father-Who anointed Jesus at this particular time and only by his sacrifice, to redeem mankind. Dr. Earnest Martin points out the links between the Acceptable Year of the Lord and Sabbatical years related to Luke 4:18-19 as follows. When Jesus announced that he was anointed to preach the Gospel to the poor, it was “a reflection of Sabbatical regulations that the poor and the stranger could eat from the fields without hinder.” 1

It is no coincidence that the Jubilee refers to these specifics in [Levi 25:10], as the 50th year was hallowed, and liberty was proclaimed throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof. God sent Jesus to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and the recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised. “This recalls the Sabbatical release laws and being free from debt as stated in Deut. 15: 1-6.” The Lord’s Release here was certainly fulfilled by Jesus as the Passover Lamb. This Acceptable Year is the kind of release Sabbath referred to in Isa. 58:6, which Jesus proclaimed at the Synagogue in Nazareth that always began on the Day of Atonement. The end of this Sabbatical year and seven-year Shemita cycle on the Day of Atonement in Tishri, ties not only to the birth of Christ on Tishri 1, 3 BC but also the cycle of regnal years from Tishri 1 to Tishri 1 for Kings in Israel and Judah, for the Priest-King of Israel and Lion of Judah, who also fulfilled the requirement of the Lamb of the first year. As a result, Jesus’ ministry could not have been longer than two years, as opposed to the 3.5 years many hold. Dr. Martin points out the influence of the Prophet Daniel on the Sabbatical Cycle as follows;

“These early opinions on the symbolic teaching of Sabbatical years were no doubt prompted by the Sabbatical periods recorded by Daniel. His 70 weeks Prophecy was an extension of the Sabbatical year’s theme, and this prophecy was the prime reference point for the Advent of the Messianic Age, that the Jews were expecting in the first Century.”2 Here are the verses detailing Daniel’s 70 weeks prophecy;

Dan. 9:24-27

²⁴“Seventy weeks are determined concerning thy people and concerning thy holy city to finish the transgression and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. ²⁵Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem until the Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks and threescore and two weeks; the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times. ²⁶And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself; and the people of the prince who shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. And the end thereof shall be with a flood, and until the end of the war, desolations are determined. ²⁷And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week; and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease. And for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”

Rev. Jon Nessle teaches how this relates to Daniel’s prophecy… of the princes;

“The first use of the word, prince, [9:25] obviously is referring to the Messiah. However, the second cannot. How could the genuine Messiah destroy the city and sanctuary? So there must be two different princes in this context. Just like verses 25 and 26 speak of each, verse 27 alternates between the two. Jesus, the Messiah confirmed the covenant during holy week by becoming our Passover. When he was raised from among the dead, the covenant was sealed and the restitution of all things made inevitable. In the midst of that week, on a Wednesday, Messiah caused the sacrifice and oblation to cease. When he died, the veil of the Temple tore in two from top to bottom, clearing the way into the holy of holies without any more sacrifices or offerings, because the supreme one had occurred. The other prince was Titus the future Emperor of Rome, and his army desecrated the Temple with their abominations, so just as Antiochus IV was a type of the Anti-Christ, so also was Titus. Thus a first Century occurrence of Daniel’s prophecy is plausible.” 3

Many students of this prophecy have acknowledged that the prince who causes the Abomination that makes desolate refers to the future Anti-Christ of the Great Tribulation, but most have not considered the historical figures of Antiochus IV or Titus of Rome, as forerunners of this Anti-Christ. The link above on Antiochus IV has a blog connecting a Blood Moon Tetrad with Antiochus‘ desecration of the Jerusalem Temple in 168-166 BC, just before the 1st Hannukah. History attests to the significance of the Shemita Cycle, as Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the Jews Temple in 586 BC in the 1st year of a Shemita Cycle, as did the Romans under Titus in 70 AD, both on the 9th of AV.

Luke 4:18-19 also reflects how Jesus quoted the text from Isa. 61:1-2, stopping at the Acceptable year of the Lord, making sure not to include “the Day of Vengence of our God,” which was and remains a future event. This Day of Vengence refers to our God, Who is the avenger and Judge, and Christ who treads the winepress of God’s wrath, as he treads the evil down in anger, whose blood will be sprinkled on his garments, [Isa. 63:1-4]. The wrath of God’s judgment is part of the Great Tribulation, which is preceded by the Age of Grace, arising by Christ’s ministry and proclamation of the Kingdom and King being rejected by Israel, resulting in the sacrifice of his crucifixion on Passover Wednesday, the 14th of Nisan in 28 AD, 30 years from 3 BC, followed by this nearly 2000-year period, including the Great and many Mysteries of the Church Age.

According to Mark Biltz, Jesus was crucified at the end of a Shemita week in Dan. 9:24-26, the 62+7 weeks=69 weeks leaving one week still to be fulfilled in Daniel’s 70-week Prophecy, or the last “week” of the 7-year Tribulation. As Daniel was a Jew who upheld the dictates of the Judean calendar, and Jesus’ crucifixion was at the end of a Shemita Cycle, so the Great Tribulation would begin when a Shemita cycle left off in Dan. 9:25-26, to start a new Shemita cycle. This also falls on Rosh Hashanah-New Year’s Day. 4 Ten Shemita’s cover a 70-year period and 7 Shemita cycles equal 49 years, with the 50th year being a Jubilee, that was also the 1st year of the next 7-year cycle. 50 years ago a new Shemita cycle began, aligned with Yom Kippur and the Day of Atonement in 73-74′. Since Jubilee years are only declared on the Day of Atonement at Yom Kippur, the 6-day war in 1967 also started a Shemita cycle with a Blood Moon Tetrad in 1967-68‘, even as the Yom Kippur War also began the first year of a Shemita cycle in 1973‘.

Yom Kippur in 2015 was exactly 2,520 weeks from June 7, 1967 when Israel won back the Temple Mount, during the Blood Moon Tetrad of 1967-68. However, in counting these days, Yom Kippur 2015-16 was the first year of a Shemita Cycle that also fell 700 days before Elul 1, 2017, and the Season of Repentance. Another total eclipse on March 9, 2016, is linked to the signs of the 2014-15 Blood Moon Tetrad, in the first year of a Shemita Cycle, completing 7 years later in 2021-22.

The Day of Atonement, “Yom Kippur” is the holiest day of the Hebrew year, and provides prophetic insight into the Second Coming of Jesus Christ our Messiah, the restoration of national Israel, and the final judgment of the world. The Day of Atonement alludes to the two great atonements given by the LORD – the first for the Gentiles among the nations who turn to Yeshua (Jesus) for cleansing and forgiveness, and the second for the purification of ethnic Israel during the great Day of the LORD at the end of days. (Rev. 6:15-9:21 & 11:15-19) “What Shall We Do?” Acts 2:36-47 Jn. 6:26-29, 10:22-33 Rom. 6, 7, & 8, Rev. 1:1-3. 5

Now in 2022-23′ we find ourselves opening another new 7-year Shemita Cycle. Since this year of 2022 wraps up the last Shemita Cycle, it is potentially pivotal as 22-23′ starts a new cycle. According to Mark Biltz-this Fall, the Nov. 8th, 2022 Blood Moon could begin the Tribulation week because it opens a new Shemita Cycle, that would pick up where the Crucifixion of Christ left off-at the end of a Shemita cycle in 28 AD. For this reason, if the current Shemita does not start the Tribulation week, it won’t start the Tribulation until the next Shemita Cycle in the fall of 2029-30′, [5790]. As Jubilee years can only fall on the [7th year of a Shemita Cycle], these Jubilee years are also always divisible in whole numbers of their Hebrew calendar number–by 49, and thus easy to identify. Biltz holds that every Rosh Hashanah, as Sept. 26th, 2022, including next month is thus
a candidate for the Lord’s Resurrection/Rapture event. He tells us that this event will align with the Day of Trumpets on the Hebrew Calendar, we just don’t know which year it will fall. When it does come however, it will activate the Gathering of the Church of the spiritual Body of Christ as we are raised to meet the Lord in the air, before the Great Tribulation and the revealing of the Anti-Christ. 6 [1 Cor. 15:50-53, 1 Thess. 4:13-18, 2 Thess. 1-14]

The Feast of Trumpets “Rosh Hashanah” is known in Israel as “the day no one knows the day or the hour,” because the feast day begins, once a New Moon is sighted and that information is relayed. The Feast of Trumpets is actually a 2-day feast, and no one really knows “the day or the hour,” until it happens and they learn about it. There is biblical evidence the “gathering together” will take place on the Feast of Trumpets some year, “with the trumpet call of God.” (1 Thes. 4:16, 1 Cor. 15:50-53, Matt. 24: 30-31, Rev. 7:9-14) 7

April 15th, 2014 opening Blood Moon of the 2014-2015 Tetrad, near Mars in Virgo.

The recent history of Isreal and the Blood Moon Tetrads when modern Israel was formed as a nation-state, were marked by the Blood Moon Tetrad of 1949-1950, as an initial key. This was highlighted by a triple conjunction of Mars-Spica in Virgo to open the 2014-15 Blood Moon Tetrad. What is fascinating is that Mars in retrograde not only marks the 2014-2015 Tetrad, but also the previous two Blood Moon Tetrads in 1949-50 and 1967-68! Added to this, the triple planetary conjunctions linked with Mars’ retrograde, also mark all three sets of modern Blood Moon Tetrads according to the pattern of the Celestial Sphinx, with these planetary conjunction signs in both the Alpha-Omega signs of the Mazzaroth, Virgo and Leo.

The 2014 Passover Blood Moon initiated a Blood Moon Tetrad, concluding in Israel’s Jubilee Year of 2015, as a summation of 7 Sabbatical cycles in the 50th year. According to NASA, Mars which was a week past its closest point to the Earth; [opposition] was 9 degrees NW of the Blood Moon in Virgo, very close to the celestial scene also in Virgo, on 4/13/1968. As the Red Planet Mars was bright in the sky, it rivaled the Blood Moon in Virgo, and considering Mars’ symbolism in Biblical Astronomy, this gets even more interesting. In Bible Astronomy, Mars can embody Michael the Warrior Archangel fighting for God’s people, as we find Mars here coming to Israel’s [Virgo] aid in time of crisis or war. However, the Red Planet–Mars can also symbolize the sinless blood of Christ our Redeemer, who paid the incalculable price to save us from our sin. Throughout the OT, God Almighty used Israel as an example of His Power, Grace and Love as He delivered them from their enemies. We saw this in recent history of the Blood Moon Tetrads with 1949-50 and 1967-68, in Israel’s battles for statehood, and as they regained control of Jerusalem for the first time in nearly 2000 years, in fulfillment of prophecy.

We will now consider the current Blood Moon Quartet of 2021-22 consisting of the following Solar and Lunar Eclipses;

1. May 26th, 2021 Super Blood Moon Total Lunar Eclipse-Sivan 15 [May 16th-18 Shavuot].

This Total Lunar Eclipse started at 4:47:39 a.m. EDT (08:47:39 GMT), according to NASA’s Eclipse Page(opens in new tab). That’s when the moon touched the penumbra. The partial phase of the eclipse started about 57 minutes later, at 5:44 a.m. EDT (09:44:57 GMT). The moon entered the total phase of the eclipse at 7:11:25 EDT (11:11:25 GMT) and completed exiting the umbra at 10:52:22 EDT (12:52:22 GMT). Last contact is at 13:49:41. [*]

The Total Lunar Eclipse of May 26, 2021, is uniquely positioned at a celestial center point between the Blood Moon Tetrads of 2014-15, and 2025-26. It holds down this singular spot in the heavens, in the center between two Total Solar eclipses on March 20th, 2015 & August 2, 2027, 2259 days on either side of this May 26th, 2021, Total Lunar Eclipse. It is also stationed directly between two other Total Solar Eclipses 1904 days equidistant from this Total Lunar Eclipse, one on March 9th, 2016, and the other on August 12th, 2026. Thirdly, This May 26th, Total Lunar Eclipse also occupies the center point between two other Solar Eclipses, each 694 days on either side of May 26th, 2021, the first on July 12th, 2019, and the second, an Annular Solar Eclipse
on April 20th, 2023. These three sets of Total Solar Eclipses, being separated by accurate day counts, represents one level of precision for the placement of the May 26th Total Lunar Eclipse. It also has a more general position in two cases midway between two Total Solar Eclipses, the first on Dec. 14th, 2020, and the second covered below on Dec. 4th, 2021, both on Hannukah.

This Total Solar eclipse on March 20, 2015, was itself also positioned at the center point between the Blood Moon lunar eclipses of the 2014-15 Tetrad, seen above as the title banner of this month’s blog. The March 20th, Total Solar eclipse [on my birthday], in 2015 occurred a day before the sacred new year began on Nisan 1 (March 21). This eclipse was visible in the sign Pisces, that speaks of the Redeemer’s people consisting of Jews, Gentiles and the spiritual Church of the Body of Christ. Here there was a solar eclipse that occurred 888 days before the Season of Repentance 2017. 888 is the gematria number of our Redeemer’s name in greek– Jesus.

The March 20th Total Solar Eclipse @ the North Pole corresponds to the Portion of the Torah reading in Jewish Synagogues, contained a reference to Nisan 1 and the Dedication of the Tabernacle. An interesting Scriptural element of this story involves a pivotal craftsman of the OT named Bezaleel-whose name means in the “shadow or protection of God.” This provides a direct link with the Shadow of the Total Solar Eclipse at the North Pole, a highly unique event midway in 2014-15 Blood Moon Tetrad on Nisan 1, with key inferences in its purview. Bezaleel was also of the house of Judah [Ex. 31] sharing in the royal line of King David, to Christ, describing how “God had filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in under-standing, in knowledge,” as [Isa. 11:1-10] with the revelation to build the Tabernacle’s holy furniture. Isa. 11:9 tells how the earth [God’s Holy Mount] will be full of the knowledge of the Lord, [Ex. 25, Heb. 8:5] relating to aspects of this eclipse, that was not only seen over the ocean, but whose shadow was always in contact with these waters, symbolizing the earth’s population. [Hab. 2:14]

The Passover Blood Moon on April 4th, 2015 was the third Blood Moon in the Blood Moon Tetrad of 2014-2015, and was the 1st full moon two weeks after the Total Solar Eclipse at the North Pole, on March 20th, Nisan 1, and the Spring Equinox 2015. This marked not only the opening of the ecclesiastical year in Israel, but also the midpoint in both the Hebrew Sabbatical year of 2014-2015, and the Blood Moon Tetrad over the same period. When we consider that there has never been a Total Solar Eclipse at the North Pole in the history of timekeeping in the Hebrew Calendar, we can see that this Passover/Easter Blood Moon was certainly unique. As we consider the Total Solar eclipse on Nisan 1, we should recall that it also coincided with the Dedication of the Tabernacle in the wilderness. But, the April 4th, 2015 Passover Blood Moon, recalled not only, the first Passover of Israel’s Exodus from Egypt, but also the Sabbath Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. This speaks loudly to the ministry of Jesus Christ designed to fulfill the OT Law, including every aspect of the Passover Lamb’s sacrifice, not only for Israel, but all mankind. With added perspective, we find the revelation of this plan for Moses‘ Tabernacle foreshadowing the blueprints for the Jerusalem Temple, as the ministry of the High Priest after the order of Melchizedek was energized in Christ. [Heb. 8:5]

Hebrews 8:5

Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the Tabernacle: for, See said He, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount. [Exod. 25]

A total solar eclipse at the North Pole on the Spring Equinox takes place about once every 100 centuries, but has never happened on Nisan 1 in Hebrew Timekeeping, especially when combined with a Supermoon, putting this Total Solar eclipse in a class by itself. The Almighty wants our attention focused on these unique heavenly signs like the Total Solar eclipse at the North Pole, at the center of this Blood Moon Tetrad, linked to the May 26th Total Lunar eclipse also placed midway in these Solar Eclipses! Heb. 8 points out that God was telling Moses in building the Tabernacle and its furniture, that he should stick to the pattern God showed to him, in the mount. It is key that God referred Moses to His Holy Mount Sinai, where He revealed the OT Law to him, mirrored in the earthly version of God’s Heavenly Temple, from the North Pole, the highest point of the physical heavens. [Job 26]

As the high priest after the order of Melchisedek, Jesus inherits his double square breastplate of 12 precious stones, symbolizing the authority of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah as Priest-King over Israel’s 12 [4 x 3] tribes [Ex. 28:15-30]. In keeping with the celestial symbolism theme, the breastplate, was designed with a niche holding the Urim & Thummim, or lights and perfections,
representing the two great lights of the Sun and Moon. As oracles of the High Priest, these two stones revealed the wisdom and glory of the Creator, even as the movements of the Sun and Moon in the heavens declare God’s glory: [Ps. 19:1].

Job 26 provides more detail on this intriguing subject.

Job 26:5-13 ⁵“The dead tremble, Those under the waters and those inhabiting them.
⁶Sheol is naked before Him, And Destruction has no covering.
⁷He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing.
⁸He binds up the water in His thick clouds, Yet the clouds are not broken under it.
⁹He covers the face of His throne, And spreads His cloud over it.
¹⁰He drew a circular horizon on the face of the waters, At the boundary of light and darkness. ¹¹The pillars of heaven tremble, And are astonished at His rebuke.
¹²He stirs up the sea with His power, And by His understanding He breaks up the storm.
¹³ By His spirit He hath garnished the heavens; His hand hath formed the crooked serpent.

In Job Chapters 2-3 we find the record of Job, after Satan had afflicted him, speaking from the depths of his sufferings, he curses his day of birth.

Job 3:4-5, 8-10
4 Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it. 5 Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it. ⁸May those curse it who curse the day, Those who are ready to arouse Leviathan.⁹May the stars of its morning be dark; May it look for light, but have none, And not see the dawning of the day; ¹⁰Because it did not shut up the doors of my mother’s womb, Nor hide sorrow from my eyes.

These verses in Job make some notable connections with the shadow of death. Intriguingly, these links both carry reference to the darkening of daylight, first seen in cloud covering, and second with the blackness of the day which ominously resembles a total Solar eclipse. Here Job links terror to the “blackness of the day,” along with those who arouse Leviathan, [Job 41] who is another manifestation of the serpent as the sea monster. This again identifies the true source of the persecution, disease and death, from the author of death, the Devil and Satan. This imagery speaks loudly to the Biblical symbolism of Eclipses as negative celestial omens, indicative of the enemy’s persecution in the war for mankind in general and Israel specifically, as activity surrounding the Blood Moon Tetrads in history attests. The recurrent theme seen in the Blood Moon Tetrads however, is always deliverance of the Almighty God, Whose Love for His people is ever true and unfailing.

This Solar eclipse imagery is also found at the crucifixion of Christ, as seen in the apparent period of midday darkness on April 28, 28 AD, the day of Jesus’ crucifixion. There is no sign of an eclipse that I have found on this day, but the shadow of death that stained this day was more palpable than any other in history, and the blackness of this day was most evident spiritually in Jesus’ death. This was completely reversed three days later, however when Christ arose as the “first fruits from the dead.” Thus, the brightness of Lucifer’s day of apparent victory was turned into darkness the moment he turned away from the Almighty-the original and eternal Source of Light. We are reminded of this, looking at the April 4th, 2015, Blood Moon in the 2014-15 Blood Moon Tetrad, which took place on both Passover and Resurrection [Easter] weekend.

As the third Blood Moon in this Tetrad, on Passover it commemorates not only the 10th plague of Darkness that consummated the 10 plagues of God’s judgment on Egypt leading to Exodus, but especially God’s protection and deliverance of Israel, which freed them from their Egyptian bondage. This is the dominant theme of the Blood Moon Tetrads, that no matter what persecution the enemy produces, it always works for God’s deliverance, always improving the overall situation of faithful in Israel, and Christians alike.

2. June 10th, 2021, Annular Solar Eclipse between the horns of Taurus the Bull.

Two weeks after the May 26th, 2021 Total Lunar Eclipse, the June 10th, 2021, Annular Solar Eclipse followed. The June 10, 2021, Annular solar eclipse began at sunrise in southern Ontario, Canada. The nearness of these two eclipses occurring back-to- back is called an eclipse season.

The path of this annular solar eclipse touches the North Pole, followed by a total solar eclipse on Dec. 4, 2021 over Antarctica, the first of two polar solar eclipses in 2021, [see #4 below]. Exactly six lunar months (six new moons) after this annular eclipse, another solar eclipse fell on December 4, 2021. Unlike in June 2021, the Dec. 2021 New Moon presented the closest and largest supermoon of the year. The graphic globe below depicts the Annular Solar Eclipse path over the North Pole, extending the polar theme of these eclipse signs.

The path of the June 10th, 2021 Annular Solar Eclipse over the North Pole. 8

3. Nov. 19th, 2021 97% Partial Blood Moon on Kislev 15.

This Partial Lunar Eclipse belongs to Saros 126 and is number 45 of 70 eclipses in the series. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node. The Moon moved south in respect to the node with each succeeding eclipse in the series. This eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node in Taurus. The Moon was placed near the famous Pleiades; the Seven Sisters – during the eclipse. The Partial lunar eclipse of November 19, 2021, is followed two weeks later by a total solar eclipse on December 4, 2021, also denoting an eclipse season.

The Beaver Moon lunar eclipse started at 1:02 a.m. EST (0602 GMT), and the moon was 97% covered by Earth’s shadow at its peak. The eclipse ended at 6:03 a.m. EST (1203 GMT). [*]

4. Dec. 4th 2021, Total Solar Eclipse in Scorpius, during Hannukah week, 11/28 to 12/6/2021.

The Sun will appear to have a dark shadow on only part of its surface. Viewers in parts of South Africa, Namibia, South Georgia and Falkland Islands, Chile, New Zealand, and Australia will see a partial solar eclipse on Dec. 4.

We referred to a link above with a Blood Moon Tetrad tied to Antiochus IV as a forerunner of the Anti-Christ, due to his desecration of the Jerusalem Temple. This Abomination in God’s Temple demanded that the sanctuary be cleansed by the Israelites, which it was on Kislev 25-at the end of a period of 2300 days [in Daniel’s Prophecy] in 12/16/164 BC; when the Jews instituted the first Hanukkah.

As Rev. Nessle states regarding these 2300 days: “In my analysis of the prophecies of Daniel, I showed that this time span very well could be the entire time span the sanctuary was trodden underfoot by the agents of Antiochus IV. We know in the Book of Maccabees that the end-point of the desecration of the Temple was on Kislev 25, December 13, in 164 BC.”9 This initiated the Hanukkah festival when the Temple was rededicated, due to the desecration of the abomination desolation at the hands of Antiochus IV, as a forerunner of the Anti-Christ.

There was an Annular Solar Eclipse that opened Christmas night to Dec. 26th, 2019 during Hannukah week, which was notable as pointed out by Christian Minister-Pastor Paul Begley, who stated this was the 3rd consecutive year that a solar eclipse appeared during Hannukah.

“Israel has been viewed as the hands of God’s prophetic clock in Matthew 24, and Luke 21:24-33. In these gospel chapters, Jesus used Israel to tell us of a generation that will finally see all the prophecies fulfilled.” When Israel was reborn as a Nation–State in 1948, the “fig tree generation,” was also birthed. As Luke 21:32 says: “This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled.” Jesus confirmed his words when He said, ‘Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away’ (Luke 21:33). This generation that sees the fig tree shoot forth will not pass till all these things be fulfilled. 10

The 1948 generation is the generation that will not pass till all things prophesied by Jesus in Mathew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21 be fulfilled. There are faithful who refer to Psalm 90:10 as a determinant of the length of a “Biblical “generation.”

Psalms 90:10: The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they be eighty years, yet is their labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.”

According to this position, the following conclusions were drawn. In 2018 this generation was 70 years old the same year that Israel marked 70 years of statehood on May 14^th, 1948. But this generation has to attain 80 years for years of “labour and sorrow”- [Great Tribulation], bringing us to the year 2028. So then according to them, from 1948 to 2028= 80 years, then this generation is soon cut off as prophesied in Psalms 90. This “cut off” happens when Christ appears at the Armageddon battle. 11

Therefore, since the ending point of this “fig tree” generation would conclude in 2028, and as Jesus said, ‘this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled,’ they have concluded that means the latest for Jesus Christ to return is in the year 2028.

There are 7 years in the Great Tribulation period (the years of labor and sorrow) that must be fulfilled before the generation is cut off. Since we are already in the year 2022, and a new Shemita cycle starts this September, as Mark Biltz points out, we should be alert.

What I find interesting about this scenario is that 2028 stands out for a few reasons. First, 27-
28 AD is also known as the “acceptable year of the Lord,” the year Christ opened his earthly ministry. The crucifixion date of Jesus Christ was [Nisan 14], April 24th, 28 AD, and his resurrection took place [Nisan 17], May 1st, 28 AD. This makes the year 2028 not only the 2,000 year anniversary of these events, but also wraps up the 6000-year period since Creation.

With the conclusion of this final eclipse of 2021, Earthlings in 2022, will experience four eclipses: two of the sun and two of the moon. The first of these was a solar eclipse, a partial solar eclipse of April 30 involving the 2nd of two new moons in the month of April, what colloquially is known as a “Black Moon.”

5. April 30th, 2022, Partial Solar Eclipse – Nisan 29, 1 week after Passover.

A solar eclipse only occurs at a New Moon phase, when the Sun, Moon and Earth are aligned. If the Moon is new upon landing on the nodal crossing point, a solar eclipse results. Depending on the distances of the Moon to the Earth and the Earth to the Sun, the resulting eclipse will either be total or annular. But in the case of the April 30 solar eclipse, the Moon reached a new phase 23 hours and 26 minutes before reaching the node, which was too far away to allow the moon to pass directly in front of the sun, but still just close enough to allow the moon to cover a part of the sun. 12

During the eclipse, the Sun is in the constellation Aries. The partial solar eclipse of April 30 was visible from parts of the south-eastern Pacific Ocean and southern South America. It began at 2:45 p.m. EDT (1845 GMT) and ended at 6:37 p.m. EDT (2237 GMT), according to NASA’s solar eclipse page. [*] The partial solar eclipse of April 30, 2022, is followed two weeks later by the Total Lunar eclipse [see below] on May 16, 2022, again denoting an eclipse season. May-Aug. of 2022 also witnessed four consecutive Supermoons.

6. May 16th, 2022 Total Lunar Eclipse on 2nd Passover.

This total lunar eclipse of May 16 was visible across North and South America, Europe and Africa. It began at 9:32 p.m. EDT (0132 GMT) and lasted about 5 hours and 18 minutes, according to NASA’s Eclipse website. The eclipse peaked at 12:12 a.m. EDT (0412 on May 17 GMT). [https://www.space.com/16830-full-moon-calendar.html] The Moon’s location is in the direction of the constellation Libra.

^{This lunar eclipse takes place 1.5 days before the moon reaches perigee, its closest point to Earth for the month.

So this full moon is a supermoon. The May 16th, 2022 Total Lunar Eclipse took place on the Second Passover, in the 14-15th Iyyar on the Hebrew Calendar, according to the stipulations in Num. 9:4-12 below, given to Moses by the Lord. However, these are considerations of the OT Law, that Jesus fulfilled as the embodiment of the Passover, who covered these transgressions where the Law was concerned.}

Num. 9:4-12
4 And Moses spoke unto the children of Israel that they should keep the Passover. ⁵And they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month at evening in the Wilderness of Sinai. According to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so did the children of Israel. ⁶And there were certain men who were defiled by the dead body of a man, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day; and they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day. ⁷And those men said unto him, “We are defiled by the dead body of a man. Why are we kept back, that we may not offer an offering of the Lord in its appointed season among the children of Israel?” ⁸And Moses said unto them, “Stand still, and I will hear what the Lord will command concerning you.” ⁹And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, ¹⁰“Speak unto the children of Israel, saying: ‘If any man of you or of your posterity shall be unclean by reason of a dead body, or be in a journey afar off, yet he shall keep the Passover unto the Lord. ¹¹The fourteenth day of the second month at evening they shall keep it, and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. ¹²They shall leave none of it unto the morning, nor break any bone of it. According to all the ordinances of the Passover they shall keep it.

Oct. 8, 2022: The Draconid Meteor Shower.

The Draconid meteor shower which is active Oct. 6-10, is expected to peak on Friday, October 8, and last through October 10, bringing with it a drizzle of meteors for dedicated stargazers, three days after Yom Kippur.

These dates are key historically from October 7th-8th we find 3 Sukkot/Tabernacle Blood Moons in 32 AD, 1949 and 2014, along with a Penumbral lunar eclipse on the Feast of Tabernacles/Sukkot in 70 AD. In 1949 Israel fought for and won their independence as a state, as in 2014 they were fighting Hamas. Both eclipses from October 7th-8th and those falling on October 18th, were all on the Feast of Tabernacles.

7. October 25th, 2022 Partial Solar Eclipse-Tishri 30-Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan

On Oct. 25, the second solar eclipse of 2022 will take place. As in April, this eclipse will be partial, but this time the Moon’s penumbral shadow will fall on the Northern Hemisphere. This partial solar eclipse on Oct. 25 will be visible from parts of Europe, northeast Africa, the Middle East and western Asia. It will begin at 4:58 a.m. EST (0858 GMT) and end at 9:02 a.m. EST (1302 GMT). [*]

8. Nov. 8th, 2022 Total Lunar Eclipse

The total lunar eclipse of Nov. 8 will be visible across Asia, Australia, the Pacific Ocean and the Americas. It will begin at 3:02 a.m. EST (0802 GMT) and last about 5 hours, 53 minutes, with totality lasting 1 hour, 24 minutes, according to NASA. It will peak at 6 a.m. EST (1100 GMT). [*]

The total lunar eclipse of November 8, 2022, is preceded two weeks earlier by a partial solar eclipse on October 25, 2022. These eclipses all take place during a single eclipse season. An eclipse season is an approximate 35-day period during which it’s inevitable for at least 2 (and possibly 3) eclipses to take place.

According to Mark Biltz-this Fall, the Nov. 8th, 2022 Blood Moon could begin the Tribulation week because it opens a new Shemita Cycle, that would pick up where the Crucifixion of Christ left off-at the end of a Shemita cycle in 28 AD. For this reason, if the current Shemita does not start the Tribulation week, it won’t start the Tribulation until the next Shemita Cycle in the fall of 2029-30′, [5790].

This concludes our overview section of the 2021-2022 Luni-Solar Eclipses. I would also like to provide a preview of some of the action for next year. In 2023 we have another April-May eclipse season with a Total Solar Eclipse on April 20, 2023, followed with a Penumbral Lunar Eclipse on May 5-6, 2023. On April 20, 2023, a “hybrid“ eclipse, or an eclipse that starts as an annular, transitions to total, then back to an annular before ending, will be visible from the Indian Ocean, western Australia, New Guinea and the Pacific Ocean. The October-Nov. eclipse season includes an Annular Solar eclipse on Oct. 14, 2023, and a Partial Lunar Eclipse on October 28-29. The Oct.14, 2023, an Annular Solar eclipse will sweep from the Pacific coast of Oregon to the Texas Gulf Coast. This map highlights the paths of the total solar eclipses of 2017 and 2024 and the Annular solar eclipses of 2021 and 2023.

As the Total Lunar Eclipse of May 26, 2021, is uniquely positioned at a celestial center point between two Total Solar Eclipses, each 694 days on either side of May 26th, 2021, the first on July 12th, 2019, and the second Total Solar Eclipse on April 20th, 2023. The Annular Solar eclipse on Oct. 14, 2023 actually serves as the first eclipse that will be crossed over in Texas 6 months later, by the April eclipse in 2024 that also crosses over the path of the 2017 Pan American Eclipse, in the Carbondale area of Illinois. By crossing over the paths of both these eclipses, the message of these three eclipses are linked. The May 26, 2021, Total Lunar Eclipse also holds a general midpoint position midway between the April eclipse in 2024 and the August 2017 Pan American Eclipse, forming an “X” in the midwest of North America.

As we keep our heads to the sky, and our hearts and minds in God’s Word in view of these exciting celestial signs, we anticipate the soon victorious Return of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring us home.

We will see you here, there or in the Air…

God Bless!

Rene’

Footnotes

1. Dr. Earnest Martin’s study on Sabbatical Years.
2. IBID
3. “Analysis of Prophecies in Daniel.” [ppg. 15-16.] Jon Nessle
4. “The Lord’s Soon Return“-Mark Biltz [Youtube video-Jan. 2022]
5. Courtesy of Paul Grevas: www.bloodmoonscoming.com
6. “Blood Moons Decoded“-Mark Biltz [Tipping Point Youtube video]
7. Courtesy of Paul Grevas: www.bloodmoonscoming.com
8. Picture Credit. https://gms.gsfc.nasa.gov/4910
9. The Abomination of Desolation and other Prophetic Terms of Biblical Eschatology, Jon Nessle.
10. http://www.christiantruthcenter.com/the-fig-tree-generation-the-generation-that-will-not-pass/
11. IBID
12. Joe Rao@Space.com [https://www.space.com/partial-solar-eclipse-april-2022-what-to-expect]
13. [*] Space.com notes on these Solar and Lunar Eclipses.

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The Celestial Prelude and the Celestial Encore

This is the first Blog post since Rev. Jon Nessle taught us about the record of Peter’s sermon on the Day of Pentecost in 28 AD. His teaching on the Figure of Speech; Merismos was a key revelation to us all, and a milestone to me especially with Peter’s reference to the Prophet Joel in Acts 2:17-21. Jon Nessle taught us that in v. 20 where; “The sun shall be turned into darkness and the Moon into blood before the great and notable day of the Lord come,” first refers to solar and lunar eclipses that don’t take place together as the Science confirms, therefore as this does not refer to literal truth, it must be figurative. As solar and lunar eclipses depict the Moon on opposite sides of the earth, it represents a “juxtaposition of 2 extremes,” which in Figures of Speech is called a Merism. This figure illustrates a combination of two contrasting words or subjects that refer to an entirety. Since this Merismos in Acts 2:20 is celestial in nature, the entirety referred to is different kinds Celestial signs, not only Solar and Lunar eclipses, that take place before the Lord’s Return. Since Peter’s Pentecost Sermon in Acts 2 took place on the opening day of the Age of Grace, the entirety of Celesial Signs could potentially include all these signs during the Age of Grace. Thus we are very thankful that the Heavenly Father gave us both a general and specific pattern of various celestial signs that not only marked the birth of Christ, but also mark his Return, based on similar celestial patterns in each case. This is the basic premise of the Celestial Prelude, which are the preliminary celestial signs that allowed the Magi to recognize the actual signs the marked the birth of Christ, of the 1st Celestial Prelude.

As He set the truth of the coming redeemer-Jesus Christ in His Written Word, He also backed these truths with many signs and wonders on earth, and in the heavens. These Heavenly Signs spoke to those with eyes to see, just as loudly as the witness of the Scriptures. As this was the case with the first coming of Christ, so it is with his imminent Return. In light of the merismos figure of speech in Acts 2, which specifically references solar and lunar eclipses referring to all types of celestial signs, our examination of the Blood Moon Tetrads takes on added meaning and depth for the end times, since God provided a blueprint of heavenly signs, starting over 2000 years ago, marking the birth of Christ, in the first Celestial Prelude, provides the keys to our recognition of The Celestial Encore of Christ’s 2nd Coming. We find this Scriptural record in Revelation 12.

Rev. 12:1-2 “Now a great sign [semion] appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the Sun with the Moon under her feet, and on her head a Crown of 12 stars. 2 Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth.”

Virgo marking the birth of Christ — **Virgo Clothed in the Sun with the Moon at her Feet on 9-11-3BC-Tishri 1.**

The last and key element of Rev. 12:1 is “on her head a Crown of 12 stars.” As Virgo and Leo are the Alpha and Omega signs of the Mazzaroth, we find a primary version of the 1st Merismos in Acts 2:19a of “wonders in heaven above and signs in the Earth beneath.” Since the earthly wonder of the Great Sphinx–as the oldest monumental sculpture on the face of the earth, is noteworthy as a composite symbol of the head of the woman Virgo who is crowned [G4735-stephanos] with the other 11 signs or constellations of the zodiac, even as the 11 stars bowed to Joseph [Gen. 37:9], ending in the Body of the Lion-Leo. This provides what I’ve referred to as the “Celestial Sphinx,” a term which now has found a home as the heavenly version of the juxtaposition of 2 extremes encapsulating the entirety of the celestial signs on the ecliptic. It is key to realize that the signs of Rev. 12:1 are summarized in context of signs in Virgo and Leo, which describes a sign of the Celestial Sphinx. One function of this dual Merismos in Acts 2:19-20, is that of all the potential celestial signs in the Age of Grace, how do we differentiate the celestial signs marked by God’s Hand for a sacred purpose from those that are not? At least part of the answer is found in celestial signs marked as they occur in Virgo and Leo. We will find examples of this as we proceed.

God also marked the coronation of His only begotten Son in the heavens with a triple conjunction of the King planet Jupiter with the King star Regulus in Leo during 3-2 BC, based on Jupiter’s retrograde motion. Thus, his birth on the key day of Tishri 1 in Hebrew timekeeping was foreordained by God, to fit the pattern of 7 primary Hebrew Feast and holy days of their sacred calendar, since before the foundations of the world. This key date on Israel’s calendar perfectly synchronizes to mark Jesus’ birthday on Hebrew New Years Day, Tishri 1.

To help us grasp the critical importance of the holy day of Tishri 1, the 7th month, we turn to the following reference from Alfred Edersheim:

“Just as age was reckoned from Tishri 1 to Tishri 1, so were the regnal years of Judean Kings. The blowing of trumpets of Rams Horns was also part of the coronation ceremony of these Judean Kings.” ²

Thus the start of Jesus’ reign as King of Kings is marked on his birthday of Tishri 1, the “Day of Trumpets.” The significance of the King’s Coronation tied to Rosh Hashannah, New Years Day and the head of Israel’s calendar, is that Jesus as the King of Kings presides over all temporal, civil and sacred matters as King-High Priest of Israel. Thus it is fitting that a majority of Blood Moons would occur near this area in Virgo, symbolizing Israel, near its brightest star Spica-Al Zemach, marking the only begotten Son and offspring of God the Father. We can see the wisdom in understanding the dual significance of this Revelation 12 prophecy, as it not only applies to Jesus’ first appearance with his birth and sufferings, but also his victorious return in Glory. Almighty God has mirrored the heavenly signs marking the birth of Jesus Christ, 2000 years later in the light various types of celestial signs and the lunar glow of the Blood Moon Tetrads with Israel’s re-birth and gathering as a nation, to set the stage for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.

This Scripture gives us the keys to decipher the celestial signs marking the first and second coming of Christ. A sign in the heavens in Rev. 12:1, refers to a celestial sign on the path of the Sun, called the ecliptic in the heavens. On this path which the Sun takes through the heavens in its annual course, there is only one sign or constellation on the mazzaroth depicted as a singular woman–Virgo the virgin. Virgo is clothed with the Sun for 20 days every year- one of the 12 keys of the “Celestial Prelude” listed below. However, the Moon only appears at the feet of Virgo 1 day each year while she is clothed with the Sun. This was September 11th in 3 BC marking the birth of Christ, [Rev. 12:1-2].

Figure 2. Jupiter-Saturn Conjunction in Pisces, May 29th, 7 BC.3

The Specific signs setting the pattern of the birth of Christ, starting in the first Jupiter-Saturn union of 7 BC, set forth key signposts that the Magi were on the lookout for in 3 BC. These preliminary signs from 7-5 BC provided the Magi the blueprints they would need to recognize the heavenly signs identifying the time frame of the birth of Christ. When this study was first posted almost 20 years ago on our Try-God.com website, I termed it the “Celestial Prelude.” The fact that the heavenly signs of this dress rehearsal unfolded over a two-year period was also a clue of what the Magi could expect, when the curtain actually arose on the celestial pageantry of the birth of Christ. Below is a reprint of the key points posted in a “Summary of the Celestial Prelude,” which serves as a good starting point for review, in light of the most recent context of Jon Nessle’s teaching on the Merismos in Acts 2, along with key points that allowed the Magi to recognize the signs marking Christ’s birth. This was provided within the framework of the truths of the celestial gospel that were first unveiled to Biblical Patriarchs, and later corrupted in astrology forming a basis of mythology the world over. The Jupiter-Saturn conjunction cycle has a long and distinguished Biblical history marking the births of both Abraham and Moses, and it’s only fitting that it would play a key role in marking Christ’s birth.

The Prophet Daniel taught the original Magi and other astronomers of the king Nebuchadnezzar’s court [Dan. 5:11] about these planetary unions from the contemporary example of a Jupiter-Saturn triple union 523-522 BC in Virgo. Less than 400 years later, in 132 BC a new star or supernova exploded in a decan of Virgo called Coma, [Fig. 3].

Figure 3. The decan Of Coma from the Dendera Zodiac. 4

Pictured as seen in the Dendera zodiac above, in the head of the child held in his mother’s arms, the new star, or supernova burst onto the scene drawing attention to the sign Coma, meaning “The Desired of all Nations” [Hagg. 2:7]. This supernova burned brightly for about 275 years as a beacon lighting the way to the general time wherein the birth of Christ would occur. This truth disclosed that as The Desire of all Nations, Jesus Christ was coming for the redemption of all mankind, not just Israel.

The Coma supernova also set the stage for the next triple union of Jupiter-Saturn in 7 BC that lead to the birth of Christ. This Conjunction took place in Pisces, marking a transition in the ages of the precession of the equinoxes, from the Age of Aries to the Age of Pisces. This new Precessional Age was marked because in the prior 2160 years, Aries was the sign wherein the Sunrise occurred on the Spring equinox. The Triple Conjunction of Jupiter-Saturn in 7BC marked the first time the Sun arose in the Sign of Pisces, on the Spring equinox, marking the new Precessional Age of Pisces. In Fig. 4 we find the king planet Jupiter in retrograde motion in Pisces in 7 BC, forming its triple union with Saturn, with a dual function of not only highlighting the new Age of Pisces, but also pointing to the signs marking the long-awaited appearance of the only begotten Son of God, who would bring salvation to all mankind.

Over 2000 years has already passed since this opening of the Piscean Age, with the Birth of Christ taking place 4 years after its opening. This Sign of Pisces is marked by two fish, one swimming vertically towards the North Pole and the other horizontally along the ecliptic. The fish represent the houses of Israel and Judah, further imparting the Promised Seed would come from the Royal House of Judah. Christ had to be the Son of Adam, Abraham and David to fulfill all righteousness. The fullness of the gap between the sufferings of the Lord, seen during his first Advent, and his glorious return as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, continues to take place in the spiritual Administration of Grace and the Precessional Piscean Age.

During the time of the rise of ancient Israel, in last millennium BC, there were 43 “normal” conjunctions between these two planets, with at least 7 Jupiter-Saturn triple conjunctions taking place, with varying intervals from 40 years (as from 861 to 821 BC and again between 563 to 523) to 377 years (as between 523 to 146 BC). The events following the 7 BC triple union of Jupiter-Saturn are shown in the chart below [Fig. 4], in 5-BC, as specific key celestial events that lead to the Magi’s recognition of the birth of Christ, in 3-2 BC.

Figure. 4 The Celestial Prelude-Specific Signs of 7 BC to 5 BC

Date	Conjunction of Planets	Constellation
May 27th, 7 BC	Jupiter-Saturn	Pisces
Sept. 15th, 7 BC	Jupiter, Saturn; [ring cycle], Sun & Earth aligned	Pisces
Oct. 5th, 7 BC	Jupiter-Saturn	Pisces
Dec. 1st , 7 BC	Jupiter-Saturn	Pisces
Feb. 25th 6 BC	Triangular massing of Jupiter, Saturn* & Mars*	Pisces
Mar. 5th , 6 BC	Jupiter-Mars Conjunction	Pisces
April 15-20, 6 BC	Lunar Occultations	Series
Mar. 23rd, 5 BC	Blood Moon Total Lunar Eclipse/Nova	Virgo
Sept. 15th, 5 BC	Blood Moon Total Lunar Eclipse	Pisces

As this chart reflects after the Jupiter-Saturn triple union of 7BC came a triangular massing of Jupiter-Saturn and Mars, also one of the traits listed below on the heels of this Feb. 25th, 6 BC Conjunction including Mars, in the next month came a remarkable series of lunar occultations, followed by two total lunar eclipses in 5 BC.

In the Summary of the Celestial Prelude, the 12 key elements below recognized by the Magi including the Jupiter-Saturn triple conjunction of 7 BC, are listed that had a direct application in helping them understand the heavenly signs marking the birth of Christ in 3-2 BC. The triple conjunction of Jupiter-Saturn in 7-6 BC that the Magi were best acquainted with, is covered in my article on The Specific Signs @ [www.try-god.com]. Doctor Earnest Martin agrees as he states in his writings: “The year 3/2BC was certainly an extraordinary one for visible astronomical exhibitions, as there was no year similar to it for many years on either side (a foretaste had occurred back in 7 BC, as Jupiter and Saturn had come into union on 3 occasions: May 26, October 3, and December 1, and this was followed in early 6 BC with a close triangulation with Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. This occurred as the planets were in Pisces.”5 [emphasis mine]

As the Magi were able to identify the Star of Bethlehem based on these 12 traits of the Celestial Prelude following the triple conjunction of Jupiter-Saturn in 7 BC, and key Lunar activity so we can see links to the 2014-2015 Blood Moon Tetrad leading to the repeat of the Rev. 12 sign on Sept. 23rd 2017. These twelve stellar pointers provided by the Heavenly Father left no doubt as to the time of year, the specific day and even the time of day for the Magi to recognize the time frame of the birth of the only begotten Son of God. These details of the Celestial Prelude are unique to the Try-God.com and blog sites since we have detailed this account of the celestial markings of the birth of Christ, it is fitting that we should reconstruct the specifics of the Solar and Lunar eclipse Tetrads that accompanied the Jupiter-Saturn triple union of 7-6BC, leading to the birth of Christ, in light of the various types of signs including the modern Blood Moon Tetrads for end-times insight. This will follow in a separate blog study next month.

By methodically researching the following traits of the Celestial Prelude I was able to grasp, and work through the celestial observations of the Magi and how they decoded the heavenly signs the Heavenly Father had left for them. They left a trail that leads directly to the signs marking birth of Christ on Sept. 11th, 3 BC. The characteristics of the Celestial Prelude are listed below:

The Characteristics of the Celestial Prelude

Jupiter was clearly marked as “his star.” [Matt. 2:2]
Jupiter was involved in a triple planetary Conjunction in 7 BC.
This Jupiter-Saturn triple conjunction occurred with two Tetrads of Solar & Lunar Eclipses in 7-6 BC.
Jupiter was involved in a series of planetary conjunctions.
Jupiter’s retrograde motion would play a key role.
Jupiter’s triple union was followed by a massing of planets.
This massing of planets was followed by a Mars Conjunction.
The Jupiter-Mars Conjunction was followed by a series of lunar occultations, and a Total lunar eclipse.
This series of conjunctions would last about two years.
The annual twenty days when the Sun is in Virgo would be a key.
The September 15th alignment of Jupiter, Saturn the Earth and Sun in 7 BC that occurred in the evening at sunset, directed the Magi’s attention to the end of the 20-day period when Virgo was “clothed with the Sun.” [Rev. 12:1-2]
The second lunar eclipse on September 15th of 5 BC established that the Magi should be watchful of lunar activity during this time. This framed the 42-minute period between Sunset and Moonset on the only day of the year when Virgo “was clothed with the Sun and the moon at her feet.” [Rev. 12:1-2]
The September 15th Heliacal Rising of Jupiter and Saturn foreshadowed the Heliacal Setting of Spica, located between the setting Sun and Moon in Virgo, identifying a 30-minute period when the birth of Christ happened.

These stellar pointers provided by the Hand of the Heavenly Father left no doubt for the Magi of the birth of the only begotten Son of God. These solar and lunar eclipses and signs of the Celestial Sphinx leading to the birth of Christ, shown conclusively with the planetary conjunctions, Meteor showers, and Solar-Lunar Tetrads of 7-6BC, in light of the Blood Moon Tetrads and other types of celestial signs leading into and beyond, the 9-23-17 Rev. 12 sign for key insight into Christ’s Return.

Starting on the 1st trait of the Characteristics of the Celestial Prelude list, the Star of Bethlehem [Jupiter] the King Planet that the Magi followed to Jerusalem and the birth of Christ, it is Jupiter again that is birthed from Virgo’s Womb on Sept. 9th 2017, after spending 42 weeks-the normal time of human gestation in her womb due to Jupiter’s retrograde motion. This speaks to the 2nd and 4th traits that Jupiter’s Retrograde motion would be a key as it was for the Magi in identifying the triple planetary union of Jupiter-Regulus beginning 3 days after the birth of Christ-the 2nd trait of the Celestial Prelude. We find a key to the 2nd Celestial Prelude in Rev. 12 with a repetition of other elements of these signs discussed below.

The third trait refers to Jupiter’s involvement in a series of Planetary Conjunctions. We find this manifested at the birth of Christ in a dazzling Jupiter-Venus conjunction in Leo on June 17th of 2 BC. It was two Jupiter-Venus conjunctions that actually bracketed the great majority of heavenly signs marking the birth of Christ in 3-1 BC. The 1st Jupiter-Venus Conjunction marking the birth of Christ took place on August 31st 3 BC, in Leo with the last one occurring on August 21st 1 BC, in Virgo. Here we find an interesting variation on a Celestial Sphinx sign highlighting planetary conjunctions of Jupiter-Venus, that took place during the first fulfillment the Rev. 12:1-2 prophecy relating to the sufferings of Christ in his ministry as the Passover Lamb. This alerts us that we should look for similar Celestial Sphinx signs in Virgo and Leo as a precursor to the Lord’s Second Coming. The fact that there were also two Venus-Mars conjunctions framing the central Jupiter-Venus union between March 31st, and Dec. 9th, 2 BC, marking the birth of Christ, sets a precedent that we find in like fashion leading to the Lord’s glorious Return. This refers to the sixth trait of the Celestial Prelude. In this light, the 1st Jupiter-Venus union occurred in August 2014 during the Blood Moon Tetrad of 2014-2015, and it is with great interest that we noted two Venus-Mars unions in 2015, preceding 3 Jupiter-Venus unions in Leo, followed by Jupiter-Venus unions in Virgo in both 2015-16 & 2017. The initial Triple conjunction of Jupiter-Venus starting on July 1st, 2015 was all over the newscasts, and current events, being compared to the brilliant June 17th Jupiter-Venus planetary conjunction in 2 BC, 9 months after the birth of Christ. This indicates the key role of Solar and Lunar eclipses related not only to the birth signs of Christ, but also to his victorious Return.

Planetary Conjunction of Jupiter and Venus and the Celestial Sphinx.

The following dates witnessed Jupiter-Venus conjunctions in Leo in the Hebrew Jubilee year of 2015-2016:

June 30th, 2015
August 25th, 2015
October 26-27th, 2015

The following dates saw Jupiter-Venus conjunctions in Virgo in 2016-and Nov. 2017:

Aug. 27th 2016
Feb. 26th, 2017
Nov. 13th, 2017

As we discuss the 2nd heavenly sign in Rev. 12 below regarding the Eta Draconid Meteor Showers, we will find unique Pi and Phi ratio relationships in these Jupiter-Venus unions, that took place during and after the 2014-2015 Blood Moon Tetrad, also conforming to the Celestial Sphinx pattern of signs designed by the Hand of the Almighty to mark key signs with this special indicator related to the dual figure of Speech Merismos in Acts 2:19-20.

The Blood Moon Tetrad of 2014-2015 as part of the signs of the 2nd Celestial Prelude concerning the Lord’s Return, was foreshadowed by lunar eclipses leading to the birth of Christ, which we find in the 7th trait of the 1st Celestial Prelude. The Jupiter-Saturn triple Conjunctions in 7 BC, highlighted by a planetary alignment on Sept. 15th 7 BC, initiated a pattern of heavenly signs that reappeared in September of 5 BC with a pair of eclipses. This embodies the 10th trait of the Celestial Prelude. On 9-1-5 BC there was a partial Solar eclipse, with a Total Lunar eclipse following 14 days later on 9-15-5 BC. These heavenly signs exactly 2 years apart, enlightened the Magi that they should be on the lookout for heavenly signs marking the birth of Christ, in the next 2-year period in September of 3 BC– the 8th trait of the Celestial Prelude. Since September marked Hebrew New Year’s Holy day, of Rosh Hashanah starting the seventh month of Tishri, on September 11th, the Magi would have been on notice with their eyes riveted to the heavens for the signs denoting the coming of the prophesied King of the Jews. As stated in the 11th trait of the Celestial Prelude, the lunar activity in 5 BC tipped off the Magi to be watchful of lunar activity during this time, two years later in 3 BC. This framed the 42-minute period between Sunset and Moon-set on the only day of the year when Virgo “was clothed with the Sun with the Moon under her feet,” [Rev. 12:1]. This period in mid-September towards the end of the annual 20-day time-frame when the “Sun was clothing Virgo,” was also marked by the first of 3 unions of Jupiter and Regulus in 3-2 BC, three days after the birth of Christ, showing a celestial coronation ceremony where the king star Regulus in Leo, the sign marking the Lion of the Tribe of Judah [Rev. 5:5], was crowned by the king planet Jupiter as a result of Jupiter’s retrograde motion in Leo. This was a key aspect of the Creator’s means to show the triple crowning of His Promised Seed in the heavens, but it was also a Celestial Sphinx sign, marking the birth of Christ in both Virgo and Leo. [Gen. 49:9-10]

Another principle guiding our study of the birth and return of Christ concerns the dual fulfillment of the signs seen in Rev. 12. We find this first in the dual significance of the “woman” of Rev. 12. In verses 1-2 the woman refers to Mary who bore Jesus Christ, as she is symbolized in the constellation Virgo, the only sign of a woman on the ecliptic. It is noteworthy that the woman is embodied both in her human and celestial versions as Mary and Virgo in this biblical record, qualifying as both earthly and heavenly signs that are delineated in the first rendition of the dual Merismos in Acts 2:19 that mark the coming Christ. As the Rev. 12 record proceeds, the representation of this woman changes. Rev. 12:6 tells us this woman fled into the wilderness for 1260 days, which does not match with the period Joseph and Mary fled Israel with Jesus into Egypt, so it no longer refers to Mary, but Israel. Since the generation of Israel at the time of Christ- rejected him, their rewards are held in abeyance, which opened the door for the Gentiles to be grafted into the olive tree of Romans 10-11. Now Christ is preparing to return to a reformed Israel of Prophecy, that we have seen coming to pass in the last 70 years. This has also been documented in the Celestial Gospel, in signs we have been recently researching and discussing, as they are apparent, for example in Figure 6 below.

From the first prophecy of the Promised Seed [Gen. 3:15] the woman’s seed was declared as the one to bruise the serpent with a terminal death blow to its head. Rev. 12:4 below reveals the central goal of the adversary, “to devour the woman’s child as soon as it was born.” All of Biblical history revolves around this conflict between the two seeds; the seed of the woman vs. the serpent’s seed. Just as the “woman” has a dual fulfillment, so the symbolism in reference to the serpent–dragon in Rev. 12 changes also.

Revelation 12: 3-5
3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. 4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. 5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

“And there appeared another wonder in heaven”- “Another” is a Greek word indicating that this heavenly wonder was different from that described in Rev. 12:1. Even as the first heavenly wonder involved the woman of the Constellation Virgo, so this 2nd heavenly wonder, although different from Virgo, was still a Constellation.

“and behold a great red dragon“- Although there are several celestial candidates for this sky dragon, including Hydra which also spans a third of the stars of the ecliptic with its massive size, it becomes apparent that Draco is the sign that is referred to in its initial significance in Revelation. This is the first of 13 occurrences of the Greek word “drakon“ in the book of Revelation, with the first eight uses of this word here in Rev. 12, [Rev. 12:3, 4, 7, 7, 9, 13, 16, 17, Rev. 13:2, 4, 11, Rev.16:13, 20:2]. The number 13 is symbolic of rebellion and the dragon embodies the idea of spiritual warfare in the heavens. As we inspect the details of the Biblical record of Revelation 12, the traits of Draco the dragon come to the surface. The first incidence of the word “Dragon” in Rev. 12:3 are focused traits of Draco over the other names of the adversary in Rev. 12:9. As a result of the war in heaven, the dragon and his 1/3 of the heavenly angels were cast down to the earth. This was depicted celestially as a meteor shower in 3 BC, surrounding the birthday of Jesus Christ. So as the Great Sphinx and the Woman– Mary and Virgo have both heavenly and earthly renditions, so too does the Dragon who formerly ruled the angels in heaven, but is now cast down to the earth. The celestial figure that embodies the casting down of the dragon, is a type of celestial sign called a Meteor shower.

In the dragon’s tail there is a star called Eta- Draconis, which was the radiant or source point for the Draconid Meteor Showers that appear to emanate from this star in Draco’s tail, which took place from Sept. 9th-12th in 3BC. This of course includes the birth date of Christ on Sept. 11th, showing the dragon’s fall, dragging down the Angel’s he deceived in his tail, matching with the appearance of Jesus Christ the Son of God. This highlights one of 3 different Meteor showers emanating from Draco, two of which have their radiant in Eta-Draconis, with the third star being Grumian or Grumian, meaning “subtle or deceiver.” Of the two Draconid Meteor Showers radiating from Eta- Draconis, one is viewed as the greater and the other the lesser, and it was the lesser that fell during the birth of Christ from Sept. 9-12 BC.6 What is unique about this is that the lesser of the Eta-Draconids, are best viewed at sunset or the early evening, while most Meteor showers are best seen later at night. This matches the time between the setting Sun and Moon, Sept. 11th, 3BC, when the birth of Christ took place, just as the thin crescent of the New Moon was becoming visible that evening.

Figure 5.

In an excerpt below from the October 2nd, 98’ Weekly News Bulletin of Sky & Telescope;

“On the evening of Oct. 8th, debris from the Periodic Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner may provide a stunning sky show. The Giacobinid Meteor shower produced two of the greatest Meteor displays seen in the 20th century in 1933 and 1946. Lesser showers arrived in 1926, 1952, and 1985.”7

The graphic above from [Watchfortheday.org] shows a temporal Phi relationship between the Periodic Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner of 1900 and the 2020 Draconid meteor shower, with the 1946 Draconids between them. This depicts the impact of the Comet Giacobini-Zinner, with its resulting Meteor Showers over the 20th century and the first 20 years of the 21st.8 Biblically, 120 years [40 x 3] is a key time period in the lives of Men of God like Moses for example whose life span breaks down into 3, 40-year periods like this.

Thus, the birth of Christ is an excellent example of the multiple types of Celestial signs utilized to mark Christ’s Birth. We find the setting Sun and New Moon in Virgo with its brightest star Spica setting between the Sun and Moon, during an optimum viewing time for a specific Meteor Shower on Tishri 1, New Years Day a key day on the Hebrew Calendar. God provided multi-layers of evidence regarding these different types of celestial signs and their significance in relation to each other in Hebrew culture for us to realize the many ways God communicates with us using these media. It was Marshall MacCluhan that said “The media is the Message,” but I don’t think he had the Gospel in the Stars in mind when he turned that phrase. The message however remains the same centered around the sufferings and glory of the Lord, and how the Gospel in the Stars gets the message across in the different ages and spiritual administrations, that the Almighty has designed to organize his temporal order. Another category utilized by the Almighty to carry His truth is Mathematics and Sacred Geometry, which we find in the next graphic examples.

The following 5 Graphics, all from [watchfortheday.org],9 the first of which depicts a dual Pi relation between the 1st Blood Moon of the 2014-2015 Tetrad on 4-15-14, and Adar 9-on 3-16-2019/the 70-year anniversary of Israeli Independence, marked by another Blood Moon Tetrad in 1949-50, with the Great Pan American Total Solar Eclipse on 8-21-17, between them. This Pan American Total Solar Eclipse is one of 4 Solar Eclipses bracketing the 2014-2015 Blood Moon Tetrad. A 2nd Pi relation is drawn in this graphic also between the 10-7-2020 Draconid Meteor Shower and the 4-15-2014 opening Blood Moon of this Tetrad.

Figure 6.

The next Graphic from [watchfortheday.org]10, depicts a Pi relation between the 1st Jupiter–Venus conjunction during the most recent Blood Moon Tetrad on August 18th, 2014, and the Draconid Meteor shower on 10-7-2020, with Nisan 10 celebrating the 70-year anniversary of Israeli Independence in 2019, between them. This initial Jupiter-Venus union took place after the 1st Blood Moon in the 2014-2015 Tetrad had occurred on 4-15-2014.

Figure 7.

The next graphic from [watchfortheday.org] shows another Pi relation between the 2nd Jupiter-Venus union during the 2014-2015 Blood Moon Tetrad on 7-1-2015, which was extensively compared to the Bethlehem Star Jupiter-Venus union on June 17th, 2 BC, and the Draconid Meteor Showers of both 10-7-2016 and 10-7-2020. This union of the King planet-Jupiter, with the bright and Morning Star-Venus, shows a juxtaposition of the fallen Morning Star-Lucifer being cast down to the earth, as opposed to the ascendant Morning Star-Venus embodies the risen and ascended Christ.

Figure 8.

The next graphic shows a dual Phi relation between the 3rd Jupiter-Venus union bracketing the Blood Moon Tetrad of 2014-2015, on Oct. 25-26, 2015 with a union of Jupiter-Saturn, the closest Great Conjunction since 1623, on the Winter Solstice, 12-21-20. The first Phi relation is found with the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction in Sagittarius on the Winter Solstice, while Jupiter is leaving Virgo’s Womb on October 13th, 2017, when an image of a fetus in the womb appears in the Sun, New Year’s day, 1-1-2019, between these two Jupiter Signs. This seems another form of juxtaposition as the first appearance of the Messiah seen in the solar womb marked by a Jupiter-Venus union like the one in 2 BC-the birth of the King, is set against the victorious conquering hero of the ages riding high as Sagittarius, in the birth pangs of his kingdom reign.

Figure 9.

The next graphic shows a Phi spiral relation between the Jupiter-Venus union after the Blood Moon Tetrad of 2014-2015, on Aug. 27, 2016. This Jupiter-Venus union, shown in relation to the 10-7-2020, Draconid Meteor Shower, on 10-7-2020, with Jupiter leaving Virgo’s womb on 10-13-17, between them.

Figure 10.

With these heavenly signs from 7-1 BC marking the specifics of the Birth of Christ, we should not be surprised to see similar celestial events marking the much-awaited and prophesied return of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is in fact what we are seeing in light of the dual significance of Revelation 12:1-5. The biblical truths of this scripture tell not only of Christ’s birth, but also his second coming, established by similar heavenly signs marking both events. As we have seen prior to the time of writing this study, in the Blood Moon Tetrad of 2014-2015, we are on a sharp watch for any heavenly signs that resemble those around his birth, and the signs from the Hand of the Almighty pointed out above, give us the basis of this research. This in truth, serves as a divine check and balance system in Biblical Astronomy, because as we see the blueprints of heavenly signs that told of the first coming of Christ, we will see a new, yet related version of heavenly signs grounded in the sacred pedigree of the Celestial Gospel, marking the triumphant return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, as he crushes all the resistance of evil darkness.

We live in exciting times that require the vigil of a Watchman on the wall, and I’m proud to stand with my fellow believers in the body of Christ, shoulder to shoulder in our unbreakable unity in Christ, as our days of victory approach over the horizon.

God Bless!

Agape’

Rene’

Footnotes

1. Figure 1. Rev. 12:1-2 Picture credit from Jesus Christ our Promised Seed, p. 71, V.P. Weirwille
2. The Temple, Alfred Edersheim
3. Figure 2. Jupiter-Saturn conjunction graphic from Starry Nite Pro Software.
4. Figure 4. Picture credit from Witness of the Stars, E.W. Bullinger, p. 34.
5. The Star that Astonished the World, Dr. Ernest Martin.
6. Happy Belated Birthday-Jesus Christ,” Jon Nessle
7. Sky & Telescope, Oct. 2nd, 1998.
8. Watchfortheday.org [The Draconids 120 year Phi]
9. IBID [Blood Moon 1 Dragon Pi]
10. IBID [Jupiter-Venus 1 Dragon Pi]
11. IBID [Jupiter-Venus 2 Dragon Pi]
12. IBID [Jupiter-Venus 3 Great One Phi]
13. IBID [Jupiter-Venus 4 Dragon Phi Spiral]

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Oct. 20th The Biblical Astronomy of the Birth and Return of Jesus Christ and the Dual Fulfillment of Revelation 12, [Part 1]

Nov. 15th The Biblical Astronomy of the Christmas Day Signs in 2 BC and 2017

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Oct. 20^th The Biblical Astronomy of the Birth and Return of Jesus Christ and the Dual Fulfillment of Revelation 12, [Part 1]

Nov. 15^th The Biblical Astronomy of the Christmas Day Signs in 2 BC and 2017