Biblical Astronomy

 

April 2003

 

Editor – Robert Scott Wadsworth <> P.O. Box 2272, Oregon City, OR 97045

Phone (503) 655-7430 <> e-mail – starguy1@comcast.net <> Website – www.atlbible.org/astronomy.htm

 

 

BARLEY REPORT

 

Nehemia Gordon from Jerusalem Israel compiled the following Abib Barley Report on April 2, 2003.

 

“Abib Found! – On Sunday March 30, 2003 an Abib Search was carried out in the Northern Negev in the area of Kfakim (west of Gaza).  Abib was found in large quantities.  Some plots checked were over 90% Abib.  Other fields were mostly Abib with scattered stalks having already reached the harvest-ready stage.  This confirms that there will be harvest-ready barley fields in two weeks time during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  The upcoming New Moon on Thursday night will be the beginning of the New Biblical Year.”

 

NEW MOON REPORT

 

Nehemia Gordon from Jerusalem Israel compiled the following New Moon Report for April 2003 and the beginning of the first month on the Hebrew calendar, the month of Abib.

 

“On Thursday April 3, 2003 the New Moon was sighted by observers from Jerusalem.  The moon was first sighted by Devorah Gordon at 19:08; by Nehemia Gordon at 19:11; by Ron Aboodi at 19:15; and by Melekh ben Ya’aqov at 19:17.  The moon was also sighted from elsewhere in Jerusalem by Chaim Goldman and a group of observers.”

 

The following are the Gregorian dates for the selected dates from the month of Abib and for the most likely dates that the fall feasts will occur during this Hebrew year.  All feasts start at sunset on the previous day from the date shown, and end at sunset on the day shown (except for Passover).

 

Apr. 04, 2003 – Abib 1, New Year’s Day

Apr. 17, 2003 – Passover is that evening

Apr. 18, 2003 – First Day of Unleavened Bread

Apr. 24, 2003 – Seventh Day of Unleavened Bread

Jun.  08, 2003 – Shavuot (Pentecost)

Sep. 28, 2003 – Yom Teruah (Day of Trumpets)

Oct. 07, 2003 – Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement)

Oct. 12, 2003 – First Day of Sukkot (Tabernacles)

Oct. 19, 2003 – Shemini Atzeret (Last Great Day)

 

 

GOODNESS GRACIOUS, MY OH MY

 

I apologize for a number of errors in the March 2003 issue of Biblical Astronomy.  I was up for three days without sleep doing the last minute research and confirmations for the information in the articles, and missed some errors that I should not have missed. 

 

The first errors are in the New Moon Report.  The New Moon report was for the beginning of the 13th month, not the 12th month as stated, and the barley search was done at the end of the 12th month, not at the end of the 11th month as stated.

 

The other set of errors must have occurred while I was doing a spell check in which I pressed the change button instead of the skip button on certain words.  It is at the top right side of the 5th page that I invented a new tribe, Nathalie.  That should read Naphtali.  It should also read Gedi, the kid or goat, not Geri the Goat.  I guess Geri the Kid has a bit of a ring to it too.

 

I did not catch the later mistakes until the newsletters were printed.  I did get the changes into the web version before it was posted, except for the errors in the New Moon Report.

 

 

NOTABLE CELESTIAL EVENTS FOR APRIL

 

There are none again for this month.  Things will start to pick up again in May.

 

 

THE BIRTH OF ABRAHAM

 

In The Book of Jasher there is a certain celestial event mentioned which occurred at the birth of Abraham.   (The Book of Jasher is not a canonical book of the Bible, but is referred to in Joshua 10:13 and II Samuel 1:18.  The translation that I have in my possession was published by M.M. Noah & A.S. Gould in 1840).  Jasher 8:1-4 reads:

           

“And it was in the night that Abram was born, that all the servants of Terah, and all the wise men of Nimrod, and his conjurors came and ate and drank in the house of Terah, and they rejoiced with him on that night.

 

And when all the wise men and conjurors went out from the house of Terah, they lifted up their eyes toward heaven that night to look at the stars, and they saw, and behold one very large star came from the east and ran in the heavens, and he swallowed up the four stars from the four sides of the heavens.

 

And all the wise men of the king and his conjurors were astonished at the sight and the sages understood this matter, and they knew its import.

 

And they said to each other, this only betokens the child that has been born to Terah this night, who will grow up, and be fruitful, and multiply, and possess all the earth, he and his children for ever, and he and his seed will slay great kings, and inherit their lands.”

 

The questions arise, what was the very large star that came from the east and ran in the heavens? What were the fours stars from the four sides of the heavens? And what are the four sides of the heavens?

 

The four sides of the heavens are the Vernal and Autumnal Equinoxes, and the Summer and Winter Solstices. At the creation these were located in the constellations Taurus (the Bull), Leo (the Lion), Scorpio (associated with the Eagle), and Aquarius (the Man).  These constellations are 90 degrees apart from one another.  When looking into the heavens at night, they cannot be all seen at the same time, since when some are visible in the night sky, the other or others are in the day sky on the opposite side of Earth.  So how could the four stars of all four sides of the heavens be seen this night in question? 

 

The only possible answer is that the four stars are planets that travel through the four sides of the heavens in their journey through the zodiac.  These are the four stars from the four sides.  The focus here is on the four stars not the four sides.

 

There are five planets that are visible to the naked eye.  Venus (the brightest), Jupiter (the next brightest), Mercury, Mars and Saturn (all which vary in being brighter than the other).  Venus appears much brighter and larger than the other four planets.  The four planets from the four sides of the heavens are most likely Jupiter, Mercury, Mars and Saturn. Venus is also a planet that travels through the four sides of the heavens – “runs through the heavens” – and is a good candidate for the very large star that came from the east and ran in the heavens.  It is possible that this could also be a comet. 

 

A very rare celestial event (once in every 100,000 years) occurred in late February 1953 BC, which fits the description of the event written of in Jasher.   This event occurred over a six-day period, in which Venus passed over (swallowed) the other four planets.  On the sixth day the planets Mercury, Mars and Saturn were so close to each other that they appeared as one very bright star with Venus right next to and touching the grouping.  It must have been a marvelous sight to behold. 

 

The “wise men” of the time, most likely observed the development of this event over the 6 days.  The night that they looked toward heaven to look at the stars (Jasher 8:2) may very well have been the climax of this event, and the description of the large star which came from the east and ran in the heavens, and swallowed up the four stars may have described the whole event over a period of days with the climax this particular night.

 

This event occurred in the morning sky and was very visible over an hour before sunrise, while it was dark, and in the predawn.  Taking the definition of night and day from Genesis 1:5, the timing of this event would be considered to have occurred at night, when it was dark.  It is very possible that Abraham was born late at night and they ate and drank through the night, leaving Terah’s house an hour or so before sunrise. 

 

The planets were seen rising from the east.  The planets and the stars as well as the sun, rise in the east and set in the west.  In their forward movement through the zodiac and against the background stars, the planets move in the opposite direction, from the west to the east.  But Venus would have been seen here in the moment as coming from the east, since it is from the east that it was seen rising into the heavens.  This is very similar to the description given of the star from the east seen at or around the time of Yahshuah’s birth.

 

The picture below shows the positions of the planets Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars and Saturn in the sign Aquarius on February 21, 1953 BC.  This view is zoomed in to a 23-degree field of view in order to label and show the positions of the planets.  To a naked eye view, they would appear much closer to one another.  This is to give reference to where the planets are relative to one another, since in the following charts I did not use labels or show the constellation figure for better clarity.             

           

                 February 21, 1953 BC

           

The following charts display how the planets appeared in their distance from one another from a naked eye view.  The stars are turned off for better clarity.  These charts display the sky over the east-southeast horizon as seen from Basra, Iraq (near the birthplace of Abraham) about an hour before sunrise, in late February 1953 BC.   To convert to the proleptic corrected Gregorain calendar, which is what we now use, subtract 19 days .

 

Chart 307 shows the positions of the planets on February 22, 1953 BC, as Venus is about to “swallow” Jupiter.  Venus is the planet on the top, the largest dot. 

Chart 308 shows the positions of the planets on February 23, 1953 BC, after Venus “swallowed” Jupiter.

Chart 309 shows the positions of the planets on February 24, 1953 BC, as Venus is about to “swallow” Mercury.

Chart 310 shows the positions of the planets on February 25, 1953 BC as Venus “swallows” Mercury.

Chart 311 shows the positions of the planets on February 26, 1953 BC as Venus “swallows” Mercury and Mars.

Chart 312 shows the positions of the planets on February 27, 1953 BC as Venus “swallows” Saturn.  All four planets, Venus, Mercury, Mars and Saturn are in the lower clump.  Jupiter is above.

           

These events occurred in the water being poured forth from Aquarius.  This water represents the blessings of Yahueh being poured forth to the redeemed.  It is very appropriate that these events should occur in this area of this constellation at the birth of Abraham.  It is through Abraham that all families in the earth will be blessed according to Genesis 12:1-3.

           

“Now the LORD had said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”

 

For further information on this celestial event and the birth of Abraham, see A Voice Crying in the Heavens, Second Edition, 1997, p. 64.

 

 

NEW VIDEO TO BE AVAILABLE SOON

 

In mid March, a video recording was done on the seminar that I did on the Twelve Tribes and the Twelve Signs, and Signs of the Two Houses.  This teaching also had an update on celestial signs pertaining to the second appearing of Messiah.  This was a PowerPoint presentation and work is now underway to digitally put the PowerPoint slides on the video presentation, as well as final editing.  This is expected to be finished shortly and I will have the master sent out for copies to be done in VHS format and also in CD-Video, which can be played in DVD players with the CD-Video option.  I will be selling these for $20.00 each plus $4.00 shipping.  I will let you know in the next newsletter when they will be available to order.