Linux-Misc Digest #365, Volume #19 Mon, 8 Mar 99 06:13:07 EST
Contents:
i-24sx1.3 (Anonymous)
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From: Anonymous <Use-Author-Address-Header@[127.1]>
Date: 8 Mar 1999 10:57:19 -0000
Subject: i-24sx1.3
Crossposted-To: alt.soft-sys.corel.draw,tw.bbs.campus.job,rec.vi
This article is posted in four parts due to message-size
restrictions imposed by some remailers and newsservers.
Please read all four parts carefully before responding....
==============================================================
'Lord of the Sabbath'
The "Seventy Weeks" prophecy found at Daniel 9:24-27 is proven
historically accurate-to-the-day 483 years after the date that
the priestly scribe Ezra had gone forward with Artaxerxes'
imperial edict to restore and build Jerusalem, which proves
Gabriel's prophecy--and the Book of Daniel--entirely accurate,
and therefore genuine. This evidence further proves Jesus the
Nazarene called the Christ is the One and Only Messiah of the
Old Covenant Scriptures, the Hebrew TaNaKh. All detractors and
proponents alike may now consider themselves hereby properly
edified, knowing now with certainty that Jesus the Christ is
your Lord and King. Readers are advised to stop right here,
dust off your Bible and read every "red letter" command of our
King if you haven't already. The fact that The King of kings
quoted Daniel as "the prophet"[ref. Mat 24:15; Mark 13:14] is
cited as the supreme authority endorsing Daniel's autograph,
thus the balance of this article is presented for the record.
And, while the secular crowd will resort to cavil in futile
attempts to discredit the Bible and its profound message, the
gospel of Christ crucified, such inevitably has the reverse
effect of drawing much-appreciated scrutiny to these ancient
Scriptures, since the evidence weighs heavily in the gravity
of its merit and the Scriptures remain intact, fully intact.
All planetary positions have been (re)calculated using the
high-precision(untruncated) VSOP87[Variations Seculaires des
Orbites Planetaires] theory of Bretagnon and Francou, with all
lunar positions (re)calculated using the revised (untruncated)
ELP-2000/82 lunar theory of Chapront-Touze and J. Chapront
[Bureau des Longitudes]. Dynamical time, ecliptic obliquity,
nutation, precession and aberration calculations made using
high-precision algorithms and very high-precision coefficient
tables to significant figures indicated, yielding accuracy for
geocentric positions comfortably within +/- several arcseconds
for all dates calculated. There are several excellent software
programs available for checking these calculations, such as
'Guide' or 'SkyMap'. For example, even using the low-precision
(abridged) mode, Guide's accuracy for all planetary positions
from 0[1 BC] through 1000 AD yields the following "errors" in
arcseconds[an arcsecond is one-sixtieth of an arcminute]:
POSITION ERRORS FOR 0-1000 AD
Planet Longitude Latitude
RMS Max RMS Max
Mercury 0.52 2.48 0.39 1.87
Venus 0.43 1.27 0.25 1.03
Earth 0.16 0.52 0.08 0.28
Mars 0.63 2.46 0.38 1.29
Jupiter 0.61 2.45 0.33 0.98
Saturn 0.72 2.55 0.42 2.03
Uranus 0.63 1.97 0.29 0.82
Neptune 0.41 1.13 0.25 0.64
Thus, Mercury might've been out at most 3.1 *arcseconds*(in
abridged mode) at the time Herod died in late January of 1 BC
(with all lunar positions still within +/- about 100 meters).
Obviously, even "lo"-precision accuracy is well in excess of
any minimum accuracy required for us to accurately determine
ancient lunisolar calendar dates within +/- one calendar day,
but by using the high-precision algorithms/coefficient tables,
the reader is assured that all astronomical data presented is
as accurate as can possibly be, and no more. Location data is
preset to Jerusalem, Israel 31:46:48 N x 35:13:12 E for all
astronomical calculations presented hereinbelow, with local
times in Jerusalem Standard Time(GMT +2:00). Be certain to
remember that each day in the Hebrew/Jewish calendar begins at
sundown the day *before*, and ends at sundown that same day;
e.g., the Julian calendar date of Thursday, September 19, 457
BC is counted as the Hebrew calendar date of 1 Tishri 3305,
but the ancient Hebrew calendar reckons the Julian Thursday as
beginning at sundown the previous day, or Wednesday evening on
the Julian calendar. This Old Covenant "sundown-to-sundown"
convention of the Scriptures is found starting in the Torah
[Law of Moses] at the Book of Genesis ch 1 vs 5: "And God
called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And
the evening and the morning were the first day." With the
evening counted from sundown to sunrise, and the morning
counted from sunrise to sunset, the Hebrew calendar is always
(-/+) six hours *ahead* of the Julian calendar in terms of
what day of the week it is, a fact which proves helpful in
identifying ancient lunisolar calendar dates, which lunisolar
calendar dates were established based on *strictly-observed*
ancient sacred Torah calendar rules. By contrast with the
ancient Mayan calendar, which dates to at least 355 BC and is
the most accurate calendar in existence---predicting a near-
perfect conjunction of our winter solstice Sun with the
galactic and ecliptic plane's intercept point[Mayan Sacred
Tree]at the end of the Mayan Long Count, which is the Mayan
calendar date 13.0.0.0.0 or December 21, 2012, which cycle
started with the "birth of Venus" August 13, 3114 BC, likewise
counted as 13.0.0.0.0 over FIVE THOUSAND years earlier!---the
lunisolar calendar of Moses was somewhat crude, but was very
effective for counting days, months and years of the lunisolar
cycle, and for observing Old Covenant Holy Days so crucial to
the ancient Hebrew existence prior to our Lord's crucifixion:
"And God said, Let there be lights in the
firmament of the heaven to divide the day
from the night; and let them be for signs,
and for seasons, and for days, and years."
--Gen 1:14 KJV
While it isn't likely that Moses actually invented the sacred
lunisolar calendar, as surely it is far older than merely 3400
years, we do know from reading the Scriptures that Moses had
introduced it and used it in his lifetime, and it has been in
use continually by the Jewish people, but probably dates to
long-forgotten antediluvian times *much* older than Noah.
The Julian, or old civil calendar was invented by the Greek
scholar and Alexandrian astronomer Sosigenes in 44 BC at the
behest of Gaius Julius Caesar, although not made operational
until 2 AD under emperor Augustus. Subsequent revisions to
this Julian calendar evolved into its modern-day corollary,
the Gregorian, but both are solar calendars only, ignoring the
lunar months altogether. Sosigenes had estimated the length of
the solar year to be 365 days and 6 hours. Those extra 6 hours
per year were to be collectively added as one extra 24-hour
day every 4th year, making a 366-day "leap year"[cognate to
Old Norse hlaupa, to leap]. Sosigenes' calendar was started on
a leap year retroactive to 45 BC, but the early leap years
were inserted more often than they should've been, once every
three years through the 9 BC. This was corrected by ignoring
leap year's in 5 BC, 1 BC and 4 AD[ref. Macrobius, Saturnalia
I,14,14]. So, from 5 AD onward, the Julian calendar proceeded
according to specification---until it was discovered that the
true solar year is about 11 minutes and 14 seconds shorter
than Sosigenes had calculated, with a tropical year today
calculated at 365.242199 days in length. This modest error
compounded over time, adding 7 extra days per millennium, but
the Vernal, or spring equinox was useful as the benchmark for
crudely "recalibrating" the calendar dates every few hundred
years, thus assuring its continued (relative)accuracy over
time. However, by 1545, the spring equinox--which the Roman
Catholic Church had used for determining Easter[Ishtar]--had
"moved" entirely *ten days* ahead of its proper date, rather,
the date had "skipped" ten days beyond the actual equinox. So,
in December of that year, the Council of Trent authorized Pope
Paul III to take action, but it wasn't until the election of
Pope Gregory XIII(Ugo Buoncompagni, 1502-1585) in 1572 that a
formal proposal was finally solicited from Jesuit astronomer
Christopher Clavius(1537-1612), which he'd compiled based on
suggestions of the astronomer and physician Luigi Lilio (?-
1576), but most especially, he'd based his findings on the
meticulous research of the 7th century Anglo-Saxon monk,
scholar, historian and theologian, the venerable St. Bede
(673-735). This proposal/papal bull officially appeared in
February 1582, but the British didn't adopt this Gregorian
version until March 25, 1752. This calendar is today known as
the International Standard Gregorian Calendar, and is the most
popular calendar in the world. But there's one more calendar
you should familiarize yourself with before proceeding with
this article: the Julian(French "Julien") dating system
commonly used by astronomers must NOT be confused with the
Julian calendar, but was named for the classical scholar
Julius Caesar Scaliger(1484-1558) by his son Joseph Justis
Scaliger(1540-1609), a prolific writer whose works were
published posthumously in 1610. Among his crowning achieve-
ments was a scientific study of previous calendars entitled
'Opus de emendatione tempore', dated 1583, one year after the
"Gregorian" was introduced. The first Julian Day of the Julian
Period--or Scaliger Cycle of 7980 years--was assigned by
Scaliger as day ZERO(0), starting precisely at 12:00:00 AM GMT
January 1, 4713 BC of the proleptic Julian calendar(invented
by Sosigenes). Astronomical calculations presented herein are
based on Scaliger's Julian dating system, but are exactly 12
hours LATER plus one calendar year LATER than this for all
"BC" calendar dates, since astronomers include the year "zero"
which is 1 BC, e.g. "-4712-01-01" = 12 PM GMT January 1, 4713
BC. Thusly, Julian dates are calculated adding the number of
days from -4712-01-01 plus any mathematical fraction of that
day counting from noon, plus or minus. This is because
Scaliger had originally designated 12 AM GMT as xx.00, but it
is convention for all astronomical calculations to recognize
xx.00 as 12 *PM*(noon) GMT beginning a Julian day, with xx.25
as 6 PM GMT, xx.50 as 12 AM, etc, since astronomers most often
work at night. By contrast, the chronological dating used by
historians is rendered as a simple integer, e.g., anytime
starting 12:00:00 AM GMT Thursday September 19, 457 BC through
11:59:59 PM GMT corresponds to Julian Day 1554766, but in
astronomy terminology, that same Julian date, as reckoned in
Jerusalem, would be JD 1554766.00000 *only* at 2:00:00 PM
Jerusalem Standard Time, since Jerusalem time is at GMT +2:00.
In other words, 12:00 PM(noon) in Jerusalem is only 10:00 *AM*
in Greenwich, England, so 12:00 PM in Jerusalem on September
19, 457 BC corresponds to JD 1554765.91667, since 22/24's of 1
= 0.9166666666667, truncated to five decimal places(within one
second accuracy) = 0.91667, which fraction is then added to
the PREVIOUS Julian Day. Once you've familiarized yourself
with Julian dating, I think you'll comprehend my research more
thoroughly. But above all, please do read you Bible. That's
the most important key to understanding this information.
==============================================================
* The "going forth of the commandment[Artaxerxes I/Longimanus]
to restore and to (re)build Jerusalem..."[ref. Dan 9:25]:
Julian Day: 1554766
Julian calendar: Thursday, September 19, 457 BC
Jewish calendar: 1 Tishri 3305
Sunrise: 5:23:35 AM JST; JD 1554765.64138
Sunset: 5:44:39 PM JST; JD 1554766.15601
New Moon: Sep 19, 457 BC @ 12:29:51 AM JST
Julian date: 1554765.43740; Lunation: -29415
Moon's distance: 382409k(60.0 ER); Subtends: 0.5208 degrees
Right ascension: 11:29:55.68; Declination: 08:34:36
Azimuth: -161.396; Altitude: -47.914
Moon rising: 5:33:02 AM JST; JD 1554765.64794
Setting: 6:24:44 PM JST; JD 1554766.18384
Notes: ref. Ezra 7:9 "...1st day of the 1st month"
[7:6-26ff], levitical rule restored. This was the decree which
established the people, government, laws(including taxation),
and: "set up the walls thereof, and joined the foundations"
[ref. Ezra 4:12], and Ezra had restored temple service in
Jerusalem. The Jubilee Year[ref. 'eleutherian liberty'] was
observed every 50th year following the 7th Sabbatic Year[Lev
25:11], making two Sabbatic Years consecutive, hence Gabriel's
distinction of seven sevens and sixty-two sevens is readily
understood, joined *seamlessly* together at the next Jubilee
Year. Jubilee was a very special time, a time for rest from
selfish pursuits, but instead, a time for forgiveness and
emancipation, for sharing and reconciliation, and a time for
ATONEMENT OF SIN[ref. Lev 16:29-34; 23:27-32; 25:8-9; ibid]!
Gabriel was reminding each one of us of *what* is acceptable
to God, with atonement of sin clearly exemplifying YHWH's New
Covenant[ref. Jer 31:31-34], preaching "the Acceptable Year of
the LORD"[ref. Luke 4:14-22; Isa 61:1-2], for there is none
other scripturally-valid explanation for how and why Gabriel's
first seven weeks were joined contiguously(no interruption) to
the next sixty-two weeks. This is crucial to understanding the
gospel of Christ crucified. Jesus taught us to ask God to "let
go off[forgive]...the debts of us, as also we have let go off
to[forgiven] the debtors of us"[ref. Mat 6:5-14]. We are to
love and forgive our enemies, but not fight them. We are to
return that which is NOT our own property: "give *you* back to
Caesar...and to God"[ref. Mat 22:17-21]. So I'm proselytizing,
but if you fail to comprehend the lucid wisdom of Gabriel's
distinction and emphasis concerning the Jubilee- Acceptable
Year of the Lord, then you've missed the point entirely, in
which case I implore you to please stop right here, (re)read
the book According to Matthew until you understand this, then
continue reading from here. Next, 1 Tishri could not fall on
Sun, Wed or Fri, thus was occasionally delayed for one day, or
at most, delayed for two days, but was not delayed in 3305(457
BC) which was a Torah Jubilee Year[cf. Josephus' chronology].
Ezra reckoned the Achaemenid king Artaxerxes'[Artakhshathra]
first regnal year as 1 Tishri 3298, the Hebrew civil calendar
new year, which date fell on Thursday, September 7, 464 BC.
Although Artaxerxes was king from mid-August of 465 BC (of
Persian eponym, upon his father Xerxes' death), his ascension
to the Persian throne lasted eight months, until 1 Nisanu(near
the vernal equinox) beginning the following civil calendar new
year according to the old Persian[Chaldean/Sumero-Babylonian]
calendar. It is revealing in Ezra 7:8 where he states: "And he
came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh
year of the king". This was NOT the fifth month of the king's
seventh regnal year on the Persian calendar, but was counted
as the eleventh month from Nisanu, hence the *fifth* month of
the Hebrew civil calendar(counting from 1 Tishri). Additional
historical sources which further establish Artaxerxes' first
regnal year in 464 BC include the 'Canon of Ptolemy' and the
'Greek Olympiads'---add numerous allusions to Persian affairs
by Greek historians---placing the seventh year of Artaxerxes
squarely in 457 BC. This chronology is also referenced in Sir
Isaac Newton's Observations Upon the Prophecies of Daniel[pp.
154-157ff]. It is clear from the historical records that the
king's 1st year of reign didn't begin until 1 Nisan(u) 3297
from Ezra's standpoint, since those prior eight months of the
king's ascension failed to fulfil *one* Hebrew calendar year,
being little more than half the calendar year, thus were not
included in Ezra's reckoning for the king's seventh[regnal]
year. In other words, the second- half of Artaxerxes' seventh
year fell in the Hebrew civil year 3305, beginning in the fall
of 457 BC on 1 Tishri, or Thu, Sep 19, 457 BC. Not to belabor
this point ad nauseum(like I haven't already), but it is very
important that the reader should understand how Artaxerxes'
seventh year was determined with certainty by Ezra according
to the Hebrew civil calendar. But, had Ezra counted the king's
seventh year as 1 Tishri 3304 as some secular scholars have
argued(misconstruing the Egyptian papyri), then that day was
Saturday, Sep 2, 458 BC, Julian Day 1554383(molad on Sep 1 @
2:16:55 AM JST[JD 1554381.51175]). I'll refer back to these
dates later in this article merely to confirm 1 Tishri 3305
[457 BC] as Ezra's historical assessment for Artaxerxes' 7th
year, in order to allay any possible doubts about this date.
One more thing, Elephantine was founded as a military colony
in the 6th century BC in southern Egypt, on an island in the
Nile near Aswan. Aramaic-speaking Jews constructed a temple
there in 525 BC. About a century ago, numerous papyri were
unearthed, many of which are dated(some double-dated) from 471
to 402 BC, dates which are useful for comparing these ancient
Egyptian, Persian and Hebrew civil calendars, and also for
establishing certain facts about them, including how that the
Hebrew calendar observed the fall-to-fall civil[regnal] year,
not the "vernal equinox" civil calendar of the Persians. The
Elephantine Jews also used Babylonian month names as did Ezra,
Nehemiah, et al, but in their Aramaic form. Notably, the KR6
papyrus has but one *year* listed: the 3rd year of Darius II.
The Hebrew date is Tammuz 8, but the Egyptian is Pharmuthi 8.
Because these dates fell on July 11th or 12th of that year, it
must be from 420 BC, in the Egyptian year 4. The Aramaic AP25
and AP28 papyri agree, as does the Canon of Ptolemy, thus was
also the Persian year 4. But, since Tammuz is several months
*after* Nisan in the Hebrew Torah calendar, only the fall-to-
fall shana reckoning reconciles the Hebrew calendar date with
the year 420 BC as the *3rd*--not the 4th--year of Darius II,
since Darius II's first year was 1 Nisan(u) of 423 BC, which,
in turn, supports Ezra's reckoning for king Artaxerxes' first
regnal year as 464 BC, NOT 465 BC. We'll refer to this later.
* Jesus born in Bethlehem w/"his star[rising]in the east":
Julian Day: 1720551
Julian calendar: Monday, August 12, 3 BC
Jewish calendar: 1 Elul 3758(1 Tishri was Tue, Sept 10)
Sunrise: 4:58:37 AM JST; JD 1720550.62404
Sunset: 6:24:06 PM JST; JD 1720551.18340
New Moon: Aug 11, 3 BC @ 1:27:52 AM JST;
Julian date: 1720549.47769; Lunation: -23801
Moon's distance: 396824k(62.2 ER); Subtends: 0.5019 degrees
Right ascension: 09:10:16.17; Declination: 16:29:42
Azimuth: 21:07:02; Altitude: -39:38:16
Rising: 5:10:35 AM JST; JD 1720549.63235
Setting: 6:43:37 PM JST; JD 1720550.19696
Notes: This Jupiter-Venus conjunction in Leo was
4.2 arcminutes in separation. The wise men(Magi) saw Jesus'
star[at its]rising, thus their own witness to this conjunction
was judicially construed as our Messiah's actual date and
approximate time of birth. Here's the Sun, Moon and Planetary
positions for August 12, 3 BC 4:00 AM JST/5:00 AM Babylon:
(Julian date: 1720550.58333)
Sun: RA: 09:14:04.83; Dec: 16:12:36;
AU: 1.007; Az:-117.638; Alt:-11.719
Moon: RA: 10:01:11.89; Dec: 10:56:54;
ER: 62.8; Az:-121.209; Alt:-23.849
Mercury: RA: 08:50:22.83; Dec: 14:29:30;
AU: 0.657; Az:-112.748; Alt: -8.198
Venus: RA: 07:49:27.22; Dec: 22:00:06;
AU: 1.564; Az:-110.981; Alt: 7.990
Mars: RA: 18:19:06.16; Dec:-29:13:42;
AU: 0.462; Az: 71.920; Alt:-29.383
Jupiter: RA: 07:50:32.92; Dec: 21:53:24;
AU: 6.277; Az:-111.017; Alt: 7.714
Saturn: RA: 03:03:06.00; Dec: 15:16:24;
AU: 8.954; Az: -56.608; Alt: 63.575
Uranus: RA: 23:28:52.40; Dec: -4:14:54;
AU: 19.147;Az: 44.919; Alt: 43.502
Neptune: RA: 14:36:59.99; Dec: 13:38:06;
AU: 30.376;Az: 137.174; Alt:-66.600
Pluto: RA: 09:14:06.18; Dec: 16.201;
Quoting Isaiah: "...the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and
kings to the brightness of thy rising...the dromedaries[young
camels]of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come:
they shall bring gold and incense; and they shall show forth
the praises of the LORD"[ref. Isa 60:3,6]. Isaiah is rightly
known as the Messianic Prophet, since he knew that *only* out
of Israel would come the One True Messiah for all the world's
salvation [see also John 12:41]. Whether these passages from
Isaiah are speaking specifically about the Magi responding to
this "rising star" is best discerned by the astute reader, but
the coincidence here is obvious at least. Notably, the magi
first appear in history in the 7th century BC, in the Median
empire[ref. Herodotus I;ci], and by the late 1st century BC
they formed the upper house of the council of the Megistanes,
whose duties included the election of the king of the Parthian
empire [ref. Strabo,XI,ix,3]. These Magi[Gk. magoi] were adept
judicial astrologers[astrologia judiciarias] from the Parthian
empire, whose lands included those of Persia, Bactria, et al
areas east of the Euphrates. They might not have all observed
this first conjunction from the region of Babylon, but viewed
it from several locations independently, some perhaps from
1000s of miles away? We do know that Gabriel had revealed the
70 Weeks prophecy to Daniel in Babylon, and that the very day
Ezra had left Babylon with Artaxerxes' decree, that started
the prophetic clock ticking down Gabriel's 7 + 62 contiguous
sabbatic years to Messiah the Prince. Furthermore, we know
------------------------------
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