Dr. Ernest L. Martin wrote a book called, The Star of Bethlehem: The Star that Astonished the World. His scholarship has withstood peer review and at least one aspect of the book is now in the latest edition of The Handbook of Biblical Chronology. His website is http://www.askelm.com and you can order his book directly by calling 1-503-292-4352. His e-mail address is: askoffice@askelm.com
Dr. Ernest L. Martin shows in his book, that the signs in the sky shown in Revelation 12:1-3, occurred on only one day in 3 BC, and they occurred exactly on September 11, 3 BC between 6:15 pm and 7:49 pm. What are these celestial signs?
Revelation 12:1-3 And a great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of 12 stars; and she was with child, and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth. And another sign appeared in heaven; and behold, a great red dragon having seven heds and 10 horns, and on his heads were seven diadems.
Because the earth is rotating, there is apparent motion of the sun and moon, while the stars stay somewhat fixed in relation to the earth. The sun was mid-body along the ecliptic in Virgo the Virgin on September 11, 3 BC, and the moon was under her feet exactly from 6:15 to 7:49 pm on September 11, 3 BC. According to Dr. Martin, this great sign in the sky only occured on that one day in 3 BC.
While Dr. Martin's date for the birth of Yeshua (Jesus) agrees exactly with what is in the Bible code, can we infer that the birth of Yeshua took place exactly between 6:15 to 7:49 pm on September 11, 3 BC? I believe that we can accept the time of birth as being 7 pm plus or minus an hour based on the exact sign in the sky.
What about the death of Herod as it relates to all this? After all, many scholars have said that king Herod died in 4 BC or 5 BC? Dr. Ernest L. Martin in his book, laboriously goes through each possibility for the death of king Herod and with a number of other scholars, proves that Herod died a couple of weeks after the total lunar eclipse of January 10, 1 BC. He pinpoints the date of death of Herod to about January 29, 1 BC plus or minus a couple of days.
Flavius Josephus wrote many details surrounding the death and burial of king Herod in his Jewish Antiquities. He writes that king Herod died shortly after a lunar eclipse. The lunar eclipses for that period of time in Israel were:
7 BC -- no lunar eclipse
6 BC -- no lunar eclipse
5 BC -- total lunar eclipse on March 23, time between eclipse and Passover was 29 days
5 BC -- total lunar eclipse on September 15, time between eclipse and Passover was 7 months
4 BC -- partial lunar eclipse on March 13, time between eclipse and Passover was 29 days
3 BC -- no lunar eclipse
2 BC -- no lunar eclipse
1 BC -- total lunar eclipse on January 10, time between eclipse and Passover was 12.5 weeks.
Dr. Martin and a number of other scholars have shown that given the details by Josephus and other historians of that time, that king Herod had to have died almost 3 weeks after the lunar eclipse. Then there were preparations for a royal burial and a 30-day period for the procession and burial. After that was over, the new king, Archelaus took care of many royal duties before Passover. Given all this, the two springtime lunar eclipses in 5 and 4 BC could not possibly be the lunar eclipse preceding king Herod's death. You'll have to read Dr. Martin's book to get all the details and other supporting information.
The point is that scholarship by Dr. Martin and others proves that what the Bible code shows in relation to the birth of Yeshua (Jesus) is both reasonable and expected.
Click here for a short Flash movie that was developed by a cooperative venture of MSNBC and Griffith Planetarium, based on Dr. Martin's research/findings, to show what the Star of Bethlehem actually looked like in the skies in 3BC and 2 BC. You'll need either the Flash player from Macromedia which you can download here for Flash Player 6 for all types of computers and browsers, or you can play the Flash movie in RealPlayer. This is really worth seeing visually!!
Dr. Ernest L. Martin shows in his book, that the signs in the sky shown in Revelation 12:1-3, occurred on only one day in 3 BC, and they occurred exactly on September 11, 3 BC between 6:15 pm and 7:49 pm. What are these celestial signs?
Revelation 12:1-3 And a great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of 12 stars; and she was with child, and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth. And another sign appeared in heaven; and behold, a great red dragon having seven heds and 10 horns, and on his heads were seven diadems.
Because the earth is rotating, there is apparent motion of the sun and moon, while the stars stay somewhat fixed in relation to the earth. The sun was mid-body along the ecliptic in Virgo the Virgin on September 11, 3 BC, and the moon was under her feet exactly from 6:15 to 7:49 pm on September 11, 3 BC. According to Dr. Martin, this great sign in the sky only occured on that one day in 3 BC.
While Dr. Martin's date for the birth of Yeshua (Jesus) agrees exactly with what is in the Bible code, can we infer that the birth of Yeshua took place exactly between 6:15 to 7:49 pm on September 11, 3 BC? I believe that we can accept the time of birth as being 7 pm plus or minus an hour based on the exact sign in the sky.
What about the death of Herod as it relates to all this? After all, many scholars have said that king Herod died in 4 BC or 5 BC? Dr. Ernest L. Martin in his book, laboriously goes through each possibility for the death of king Herod and with a number of other scholars, proves that Herod died a couple of weeks after the total lunar eclipse of January 10, 1 BC. He pinpoints the date of death of Herod to about January 29, 1 BC plus or minus a couple of days.
Flavius Josephus wrote many details surrounding the death and burial of king Herod in his Jewish Antiquities. He writes that king Herod died shortly after a lunar eclipse. The lunar eclipses for that period of time in Israel were:
7 BC -- no lunar eclipse
6 BC -- no lunar eclipse
5 BC -- total lunar eclipse on March 23, time between eclipse and Passover was 29 days
5 BC -- total lunar eclipse on September 15, time between eclipse and Passover was 7 months
4 BC -- partial lunar eclipse on March 13, time between eclipse and Passover was 29 days
3 BC -- no lunar eclipse
2 BC -- no lunar eclipse
1 BC -- total lunar eclipse on January 10, time between eclipse and Passover was 12.5 weeks.
Dr. Martin and a number of other scholars have shown that given the details by Josephus and other historians of that time, that king Herod had to have died almost 3 weeks after the lunar eclipse. Then there were preparations for a royal burial and a 30-day period for the procession and burial. After that was over, the new king, Archelaus took care of many royal duties before Passover. Given all this, the two springtime lunar eclipses in 5 and 4 BC could not possibly be the lunar eclipse preceding king Herod's death. You'll have to read Dr. Martin's book to get all the details and other supporting information.
The point is that scholarship by Dr. Martin and others proves that what the Bible code shows in relation to the birth of Yeshua (Jesus) is both reasonable and expected.
Click here for a short Flash movie that was developed by a cooperative venture of MSNBC and Griffith Planetarium, based on Dr. Martin's research/findings, to show what the Star of Bethlehem actually looked like in the skies in 3BC and 2 BC. You'll need either the Flash player from Macromedia which you can download here for Flash Player 6 for all types of computers and browsers, or you can play the Flash movie in RealPlayer. This is really worth seeing visually!!
