Daniel prophecy (Dan. 9) counting of years, around 3/2 BC
Iran
Wise men still seek Him.
Herod “troubled” understandable w/ Persian force and leaders present; garrison at Jerusalem weakened, off fighting the Homonadensian War
Pictures, school, MAGI 2 While oftentimes conflicting lore muddles the story of the Magi, those bearing gifts for the Christ child are Caspar of Tarsus, Melchior of Persian and Balthasar of Saba. Weary from desert travel, the Magi humbly offer their gifts. Caspar is young, European and offers gold. Gold finances the Holy Family's coming flight to Egypt and also symbolizes Christ's immortality and purity. For his generosity, Caspar receives the gifts of charity and spiritual wealth. Melchior is middle-aged, Persian and offers myrrh. Myrrh is a fragrant gum, which the ancient Israelites believed to strengthen children. This symbol of Christ's mortality was blended with wine and offered to him on the cross, and also mixed with aloes to wrap his body for the tomb. Melchior receives the gifts of humility and truth. Balthasar is elderly, Ethiopian and offers frankincense. Frankincense is a resin used in incense for worship and also symbolizes prayer and sacrifice. Balthasar receives the gift of Faith. And Christ, humbling himself to become man, offers us the greatest gift of all, the light that forever burns in the darkness.
The elaborate story that we know today can be found in the Historia Trium Regum , the History of the Three Kings , which is attributed to the fourteenth-century cleric John of Hildesheim . In this compilation of the legend, we are told much more about the star: "When the day of the nativity was passed the Star ascended up into the firmament, and it had right many long streaks and beams, more burning and brighter than a brand of fire; and as an eagle flying and beating the air with his wings, right so the streaks and beams of the Star stirred about." And we are told that the three wise men, named Melchior, Balthazar, and Gaspar, are the kings of "Ind, Chaldea, and Persia." They only meet on the outskirts of Jerusalem having traveled from their own lands "in great haste" and without stopping. And so they reach Bethlehem and present their gifts. John of Hildesheim continues the story of the wise men: "after many years" a Star appears above the cities in which the kings dwell just before Christmas, indicating to them that their lives were nearing an end. "Then with one consent they built, at the Hill of Vaws, a fair and large tomb, and there the three Holy Kings...died and were buried in the same tomb by their sorrowing people ."
____ is thinking…. Date a star? Okay. I hear Jessica Simpson is available again….
Numbers 24:17 = who is talking? Balaam, got done talking to some jackass…. Where are the Christmas points? Moab = Area of Edom. Not Moab Utah which means he is a Mormon. …or at least I think not…
Balaam’s Fourth Oracle Who is Balaam talking about? HEROD!
Balaam’s Fourth Oracle Who is Balaam talking about? HEROD!
30BC, Augustus defeated Antony and Cleopatra, Herod murders anyone he thinks may be threat wife, mother, sons gave order that 1 person from each household be killed on his death to have sorry evident killed probably more than 25 boys on decree, Bethlehem small town
Source = ASKELM.com site Ernest L Martin author
Everyone is excited when Herod dies, and so are we. Herod’s death date helps us pin Christ birth date which in turn helps us research star Eclipse of moon occurred in 4 BC, Josephus reports Herod dies shortly after Moon eclipse Quirinius census took place on 6 AD, usual practice every 14 years, “usual” variable gap of time between Jesus birth and Herod’s death to allow Jerusalem, rite purification, 40 days, move to house, visit of magi, flight to Egypt Which is it? Don’t know…
The Jewish historian Josephus, records that there was a Jewish holiday celebrating Herod's death on 2nd day of the month Shebat. Significantly, this date is in accord with only one of those 4 eclipses, namely the one an 9th Jan, 1 BC. The 2nd Shebat date fell just 15 days after that eclipse. This means that Herod died 24th January I BC. Consequently, the Christmas star must have appeared throughout 3 and 2 BC. This accords with the census completed by late 3 BC. Setterfield source
For about 100 years there has been a consensus among scholars that Herod the Great reigned from 37 to 4 BCE. However, there have been several challenges to this consensus over the past four decades, the most notable being the objection raised by W.E. Filmer. This paper argues that Herod most likely reigned from late 39 BCE to early 1 BCE, and that this reconstruction of his reign can account for all of the surviving historical references to the events of Herod's reign more logically than the current consensus can. Moreover, the reconstruction of Herod's reign proposed in this paper accounts for all of the datable evidence relating to Herod's reign, whereas the current consensus is unable to explain some of the evidence that it dismisses as ancient errors or that it simply ignores. Sections on Jesus' birth and Herod's death now discuss both the standard dating (nativity before 4 BC), and that of Martin, Keresztes, etc (3/2 BC); Finegan favors the latter dating, as well as 33 AD for the crucifixion. The Handbook of Biblical Chronology , Jack Finegan (Revised Edition; Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 1998) ISBN 1-56563-143-9 ???
How long does a census take? A Roman census document, dated 104 A.D., has been discovered in Egypt, in which citizens were specifically commanded to return to their original homes for the census. 6 Another census document from 119 A.D. has been found in which an Egyptian man identifies himself by giving (1) his name and the names of his father, mother, and grandfather; (2) his original village; (3) his age and profession; (4) a scar above his left eyebrow; (5) his wife's name and age, his wife's father's name; (6) his son's name and age; (6) the names of other relatives living with him. The document is signed by the village registrar and three official witnesses. 7 This latter document is of special interest, because it gives us an idea of the kind of information that Joseph and Mary would have had to provide for the census. We know that the chronology of Dionisius Exiguus has a built-in error of 5 years and that his date for the Nativity of December 25th 1AD, when corrected, is December 25th 5BC, just three years after Caesar Augustus’s census decree.
Do the math… what’s the problem? NOTE THE LITTLE AD at the end.
Shepherds: only 2 times a year when sheep on fields instead of in sheep pens, when lambs being born in spring or autumn - Bethlehem sheep used for sacrifices in Jerusalem (appropriate) - Setterfield Rev. 12, constellation Virgo clothed w/ sund and had moon at feet, Jesus born when sun and moon were in Virgo, at time of Sept New Moon, autumn lambing season (Setterfield: between 10th and 25th of September, 3 BC)
The Complete Artscroll Machzor . Trumpet blew in Revelation to announce new era.
Sept 11, 3 BC = Ernest Martin = June 17, 2 BC = “The Christmas Star” by John Mosely. (Flash video) Dec 25, 2 BC = Rick Larson = Bethlehemstar.net (Video) Day of Atonement, 5 BC = Robert Faid Sept/Oct 2 BC or 3 BC = Setterfield
Halley’s Bible Handbook = Supernatural Announcement of a Supernatural Birth
Halley’s Bible Handbook = Supernatural Announcement of a Supernatural Birth
Meteors and meteor showers such as the Leonids though impressive last a maximum of a few weeks. A nova or unstable star is longer lasting. The only nova recorded at the time was a faint one in 4 BC. They rarely last 2 years. By contrast, a supernova has been seen in broad daylight and can last several years. The Wise Men claimed to Herod that the star they followed was visible for 2 years. two supernovae recorded near the Nativity: 134 BC and 173 AD. Source Setterfield Comet = Typically omen of doom through literature (Larson)
No comets 3 or 2 BC. Halley’s comet in 11 BC; another in 4 BC
We thus have a Chinese object in the north of Capricorn in March 5BC and a Korean object in the constellation of Aquila in March 4BC. The apparent observation of two separate objects in consecutive years has and still causes considerable confusion. We assume that the Magi took anything from 6 to 8 weeks from first sighting the Star to arrival in Bethlehem. Part of this time would have been spent in preparations for the journey, part in the journey itself and part waiting for their audiences with King Herod in Jerusalem. Even if the Magi took as much as 8 weeks to arrive in Bethlehem, we are still well within the period of visibility of the Chinese nova that we know to be more than 10 weeks. A star rises 2 hours earlier each month as a result of the change of perspective caused by the Earth’s orbital motion. Nova Bethlehem would thus be further south at dawn with each passing day. Thus a star initially seen in the east at dawn will, in time, be seen in the south at dawn. For Nova Bethlehem, by April 30th it would have been due south at dawn in Jerusalem, as shown in the example above. Had the Magi set out for Bethlehem from Jerusalem at dawn around this date, the Star would have been directly in front of them on the road. At astronomical twilight, as seen from Jerusalem, the approximate position of the Star in the sky would have been: So, effectively, had the Magi headed for Bethlehem as the first light of dawn broke on the eastern horizon at any time in the first half of May, the nova would have been almost exactly due south and ahead of them on the road as we see in the following figure. “ All the known aspects of the observations of the Star of Bethlehem can be understood in a simple fashion if it was a simple bright nova observed in northern Capricorn or southern Aquila in mid-March 5BC and chronicled by the Chinese and Koreans. Oriental and biblical references are consistent with each other and the Star described in Matthew and in other early documents can be explained in a perfectly natural way. “ = Astrosurf.com article
For about a month back in late 1999, there was an extra star in the night sky. Anyone who knew where to look could have spotted Nova Aquila, an aged stellar corpse that had just exploded -- or "gone nova," as scientists say. Earthlings have been noting these cosmic-sized hydrogen bombs for at least 1,000 years. Chinese astronomers noted more than 20 novae and supernovae dating as far back as the year 1006, for example. In 1572, the astronomer Tycho Brahe saw a new star in the sky, in the constellation Cassiopeia. He wrote a book about it, "De Nova Stella," or "About the New Star." Since then, whenever a "new" star appeared in the sky, scientists called it a nova. As early as the 1930s, astronomers realized that one class of these objects, supernovae, were something far more powerful. Though Nova Aquila was briefly 100,000 times brighter than our Sun, it didn't appear that bright on Earth because it is roughly 6,000 light-years away, in the constellation Aquila. Still, it was the brightest nova visible from the Northern Hemisphere since 1975.
Two major novae have been observed in Aquila; the first one was in 389 BC and was recorded to be as bright as Venus, the other ( Nova Aquilae 1918 ) briefly shone brighter than Altair, the brightest star in Aquila. Source = Wikipedia.
Star led them. Lead as in yahoo maps, or lead as in learning the name of the place you are trying to go.
1 – I don’t know the answer. I like learning. 2 – My personal opinion is that I believe God set up the game with the rules, why wouldn’t he play it? He didn’t have to send his son to die unless he bound himself to the original set up. I believe in natural causations that you and I cannot control. For example, the fact I think a couple of planets may have come together in no way gives me the power to 3 -What do you need from God? Do you need something “Magical” that you cannot explain to make it something from God? If you knew how something was accomplished that you could not do, is it still God working in your life? 4 – The billboard isn’t the important part. If God wanted me to know the details, he would have listed the chart of the heavens. Instead, he focused on what the angels were saying, that God, the creator of the universe, loved me enough to allow himself to be bound by the limitations of human body, to go through puberty and middle school pe classes, to be teased by his friends when he wouldn’t go along with bad decisions (hey, look who things he’s God’s gift to the world…”, to die for something he did not do. God didn’t tell us the details of the star, but he showed us the depth of his love. The important part is the billboard message, not the messenger. …Just like today. Amen Resources listed