One Saint continues with selected excerpts from The Star of  Bethlehem: The Star that Astonished the World, by DR Ernest L Martin.  The Birth of Jesus and the Day of Trumpets (Chapter Six) is perhaps the most fascinating of all.  Here, DR Martin narrows down the possible date and time of the birth of Jesus with particular attention to the Day of Trumpets.

"The historical evidence I have presented in this book shows that Jesus was born in the year 3 B.C.E. It appears most probable that a late summer birth in 3 B.C.E. has the best credentials. I need not rehearse my reasons for this, but they are very strong. Indeed, the evidence from the priestly courses alone suggests that a September nativity is the most likely. This gives a pretty close approximation that most scholars would probably accept as reasonable. But now, we come to the nitty-gritty! To propose an early evening birth on September 11, 3 B.C.E. appears almost impossible to believe. To get that close to his time of birth might at first seem to be fanciful.

"The fact is, however, I can state without a shadow of a doubt, that the celestial scene described by the apostle John in Revelation 12:1–5, if viewed astronomically, would center precisely on a New Moon date within mid-September, and that in 3 B.C.E. that exact celestial phenomenon would have occurred in the early evening of September 11th. I can also state with assurance that sundown on September 11, 3 B.C.E. was also the beginning of the Jewish New Year (Rosh ha-Shanah ― The Day of Trumpets).

"Even if the apostle John were only giving the symbolic time for Jesus’ nativity, and not the actual, we are provided with a great deal of insight on how early Christians interpreted significant periods of time on the holy calendar of Israel. If Jesus were actually born on Rosh ha-Shanah (the Day of Trumpets) in 3 B.C.E., a most impressive astronomical panorama of events burst forth on the scene that would have awed and astonished most Jewish people who lived at the time. Truly, this is not an exaggeration..."

Continue reading The Birth of Jesus and the Day of Trumpets (Chapter Six) for a most engrossing study!

DR Martin concludes:

"As I stated, this day at the beginning of the month of Tishri was the day when the seventh trump (or the last trump) was sounded to introduce the final month when the festivals of God ordained at the time of Moses would be held. This last trump is mentioned by the apostle Paul as heralding the events associated with the Second Advent of Christ back to this earth (1 Corinthians 15:52 and 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17). This last or final trump is also mentioned by the apostle John in Revelation 11:15 as the warning sound that the Kingdom of God will soon be coming to earth. And soon after, the seven angels of the Book of Revelation will bring on the seven last plagues (in the same fashion as the Jewish analyzers of chronology saw that from the same day of Rosh Ha-Shanah the Ten Plagues were sent forth on Egypt in the time of Moses).

"What is certain is the fact that the Book of Revelation (with its teaching that Jesus was born on the Day of Trumpets) is giving us in a symbolic way the time for the nativity of Jesus whom Christians considered to be the king of the world. He was prophesied to lead all people into a time of freedom and profound peace. This is the central reason why the apostle John in Revelation 12:1–5 shows that the birth of Jesus occurred within the first few minutes (the twilight period) of the Day of Trumpets that works out to be September 11th in 3 B.C.E."

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Martin, Ernest L. “The Star of Bethlehem:  The Star that Astonished the World.” 23 DEC 2012 <http://www.askelm.com/star/star008.htm>

You can purchase the hardbound version of The Star of Bethlehem: The Star that Astonished the World, by DR Ernest L Martin at
amazon.com.

You can read or listen to The Star of Bethlehem: The Star that Astonished the World at the ASK ELM website.

You can also listen to David Sielaff’s wonderful audio interview with George Ann Hughes at the Byte Show.  These files bring us up to date, for David Sielaff continues the work of Ernest L Martin today.  You will find the full interview at The Byte Show.  Scroll way down to The Star of Bethlehem series, in fourteen parts. 

Also available are all eleven parts of The Star of Bethlehem interviews Ernest L Martin did with Jeff Rense at ASK ELM.

When Jupiter and Venus meet, it is a majestic sight to behold.  But in the time of the birth of Jesus, there were several astronomical events that illuminated this planetary conjunction; including a full moon, Jupiter’s close proximity to Regulus, the King Star, and the prominence in Leo, the sign of the King.  It must have been a glorious vision on that wondrous day, the day of our Lord’s birth!

For Christmas, One Saint would like to reference DR Ernest L Martin’s work, The Star of Bethlehem: The Star that Astonished the World, and celebrate the glory of God’s creation and the role it played heralding the miraculous birth of His Son, Jesus Christ.  Is it any wonder that His Firmament tells His Story?

Following, we have quoted DR Martin from an online version of his work.  The Star of Bethlehem in History is the first of thirteen chapters.  We recommend that you follow the link and read the entire work.  It is excellent and in the spirit of Christmas that ASK ELM has posted the whole book online.  You can read or listen to the entire book for free.  You can find The Star of Bethlehem: The Star that Astonished the World at the ASK ELM website.

You can also listen to David Sielaff’s wonderful audio interview with George Ann Hughes at the Byte Show.  These files bring us up to date, for David Sielaff continues the work of Ernest L Martin today.  You will find the full interview at The Byte Show.  Scroll way down to The Star of Bethlehem series, in fourteen parts.

You can also listen to all eleven parts of The Star of Bethlehem interviews Ernest L Martin did with Jeff Rense at ASK ELM.


The Star of Bethlehem in History (Chapter One)

"It was the early evening of June 17, 2 B.C.E. All the cities around Babylon in Mesopotamia were aglow with talk about a spectacular astronomical event being witnessed in the western sky. What had been monitored for several weeks was the planet Venus moving eastward among the stars on what appeared to be a collision course with the planet Jupiter. Now the expected event had happened right in front of their eyes.

“This astronomical drama being enacted in the western part of the sky showed the “collision” of the two brightest planets in the heavens. So small was the separation between them that to the naked eye they would have appeared not as two stars, but as one brilliant star shining far brighter than any other star or planet. Though the two planets were millions of miles away from one another, to observers in Babylon in the year of 2 B.C.E., they appeared as a single star dominating the twilight of the western sky in the direction of Palestine.

“This conjunction of Jupiter and Venus has also evoked the astonishment of modern astronomers. The use of computers has given astronomers today the ability to have easy reference to all the solar, lunar, planetary and stellar motions and their relationships with one another over the past five thousand years. And within the last twenty-five years no astronomical event of the past has caused more discussion between astronomers and historians than this conjunction of Jupiter and Venus on June 17, 2 B.C.E. It was Roger W. Sinnott, writing in the astronomical journal Sky and Telescope, who was the first to draw attention to this unusual conjunction of Jupiter and Venus. He said it was a brilliant “double star” which finally gave the appearance of merging into a single “star” as the planets drew nearer the western horizon. Sinnott showed that only the sharpest eyes would have been able to split them. The twinkling caused by the unsteady horizon atmosphere would have blended the two planets into one “star” for almost all viewers. “The fusion of two planets would have been a rare and awe-inspiring event.

“There is one thing for certain. This astronomical information given within this book makes this period in the history of the world come alive as never before. Whether people today view these planetary/stellar events from the early Roman, Mesopotamian or the Palestinian perspective, or even from a modern secular one, we now have clear evidence that there was once (at the very beginning of our era) a unique appearance of a magnificent star which must be called “The Star that Astonished the World.” “

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Martin, Ernest L. “The Star of Bethlehem:  The Star that Astonished the World.” 4 DEC 2012. <http://www.askelm.com/star/star001.htm>

You can purchase the hardbound version of The Star of Bethlehem: The Star that Astonished the World, by DR Ernest L Martin at amazon.com.

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